Yours, Mine, and No One Else's
by ekc293
Summary: A collection of one-shots centered around possessive!Caskett and the slightly mature situations it leads to. Rated for safety.
1. New Year's Eve & Stairwells

Oh god... I'm _slightly_ embarrassing to post this. While it's not exactly ~smut... it is by far the most sexual thing I've ever written. What can I say? I like possessive!Castle...

kaythankssss

So yeah... I'm just gonna... let you read, I guess...

**Disclaimaaaaa**: Castle is not mine. It never has been and it never will be.

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><p>New Year's Eve &amp; Stairwells<p>

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><p>It was nearing 10 o'clock on New Year's Eve and the Mayor's annual send-off to the past year at the Plaza was in full swing. Kate Beckett stood at the open bar by herself, nursing a glass of water (she was on call in the morning) waiting for her date to return from the men's room.<p>

The party had started at 8 that night, but for her it had begun much earlier. Her date had picked her up from her apartment at noon (she had the day off) and had surprised her with a day pass to one of the best spas in the city. She had fought him at first, but when he reasoned that it was going to be a chance for her to work out all of the stress of the past year, she kissed him softly and accepted, thanking him profusely for his thoughtfulness. Four hours later, he was outside waiting to take her back to her apartment so she could get ready for the party that night. He came back and got her a couple hours later, after she had curled every hair to perfection and gotten her make up just right, and took her out to eat at the restaurant they had their first official date at. So far, the day had been absolutely perfect. She couldn't wait to ring in the New Year with him later on that night.

Kate was brought out of her memories when she noticed someone standing in front of her. Lifting her gaze from her drink, she locked eyes with them.

It was a man, and even in her killer 4 inch stilettos, she had to look up to see his eyes. He was attractive, she'd give him that, in the I-was-a-teen-model-I-still-have-the-six-pack-to-prove-it way. He had gray eyes and his blond hair was obviously gelled and styled in a way resembling Pierce Brosnan's James Bond.

She gave him a small smile and turned back to the bar, intent on getting another glass of water.

"Whoa there," the man said, surprising her, "a pretty woman such as yourself shouldn't be getting her own drinks."

Kate bit her lip. For one, she was perfectly capable of getting her own drinks. She was a homicide detective for crying out loud. And besides, if there was going to be anyone getting her drinks, the _only_ man she would allow to her a drink, it would be her date.

She gave the man a tight lipped smile, trying to keep her tone light while still sending the message to get away from her, "Yeah, well… I'm a big girl. I can handle it."

The man across from her leered at her, taking in her dress and the sight of her long legs. He let out a low whistle, "I'm sure you can, but you can't blame a man for wanting to help a lady get what she wants."

His voice made her skin crawl.

"I'm David," the man said, extending his hand to her, "And you are?"

In that exact moment, she saw Castle making his way over to her. Her shoulders sagged in relief at the sight of her boyfriend of 7 months, and he smiled at her briefly before scowling at the man who was standing across from her.

Kate gave the man another forced smile and turned back towards the bar, tipping her glass towards the bartender, letting him know she wanted another. The bartender saw her and nodded his head in acknowledgment. Kate smiled in thanks, but it quickly fell from her face when she felt a hand on her arm. Spinning around, she saw David's hand on her arm. Raising an eyebrow at him, he smiled at her again and opened his mouth to speak.

He didn't have a chance to say anything though, because by then Rick had reached them.

Not wasting any time, Rick knocked David's hand off of Kate's arm, glaring at the man for a moment before turning back to Kate. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her tight against his body and tilted her head back with his free hand, bringing his lips down to hers, greeting her with a toe-curling kiss. When he broke away, a quick look at his eyes confirmed what she had assumed since the moment she saw him approaching her.

He was furious.

Rick gave her a smile, silently telling her that his anger wasn't directed at her, before turning back to David. When he spoke his voice was upbeat and friendly, but there was a murderous undertone that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Hello, there, sir," he sneered, "thank you so much for keeping my _girlfriend _company while I was in the bathroom," she saw David pale slightly. Rick continued, "She's just so beautiful that I can't take her anywhere without people trying to steal her out from under my nose. Is she not the most exquisite creature your eyes have ever beheld?" Kate looked back at David. If he was slightly pale before, now he was as white as a sheet. She looked at Rick, confused, angry, and slightly embarrassed by his outburst, trying to figure out what was going on. Rick ignored her, still glaring at David, but his arm tightened around her waist. "Now, if you'll excuse us," he continued, "I'm going to find us somewhere more private to…" he cleared his throat, his voice now loaded with innuendo, "… ring in the New Year."

Rick moved his hand from Kate's waist and grabbed her hand gently. He began walking away and pulled her along behind him. Kate felt her cheeks heat up, flushed with embarrassment and anger. What the hell was he doing? She kept her glare fixed upon his back as he led her out of the ballroom and into the lobby of the hotel. Walking over towards an entrance to a hallway, he pushed her flat against the first available surface, his lips immediately latching onto her neck and kissing her.

Kate moaned a little at the sensation before she remembered where they were and what had just happened. Mustering up all the self-control she could, she was proud when her voice came out strong and sharp.

"What has gotten into you?" she said incredulously, pushing against his chest.

"I think the better question," he said, his eyes dark, "is what _am_ I getting into." As he spoke, his hand trailed down to the hem of her dress, pushing it up slightly and running his fingers along her thigh, "and I think we both know the answer to that question is 'you'."

Kate's mouth fell open as she smacked his hand away.

"Richard Castle!" she hissed, "we are in public." A quick look to the side confirmed that there were indeed some people in the lobby of the hotel watching them. Rolling her eyes at them, she grabbed his hand as he once again tried to move it up her skirt, and pulled him roughly into what the closest space out of sight was, which happened to be a service stairwell.

She shoved him roughly into the stairwell, making sure that the door closed behind them before turning on him.

"So," she said tersely, crossing her arms across her chest, "any particular reason you felt the need to piss a circle around me right there?"

His voice was low and dangerous as he looked directly into her eyes, "I have waited for five years to call you mine," He paused and clenched his jaw, "and I will be damned if I let someone think they can have you now."

She rolled her eyes, "People have hit on me before, Rick."

"Of course," he nodded, acknowledging her point, "You're beautiful. Any man with eyes is going to want you." His eyes raked up and down her figure, admiring the perfect fit of her little black sequin dress for the umpteenth time that evening. Finally his eyes returned to her face, "but they can't have you."

The rational part of her brain told her that she should be angry. That she should tell Rick that she did not belong to him or anyone else for that matter; that she was not some plaything that was up for the taking.

She shivered at his possessiveness.

_Dammit._

He saw her reaction and gave her an almost predatory smile. He walked towards her proudly, pushing her up against the concrete wall. When she was firmly pressed against the surface, Rick unfolded her arms and moved to press himself flush against her, leaving her no room to escape. Almost painfully slowly, he moved his face to hers. He brushed his lips over hers, just barely breathing against the lips he has had the pleasure of memorizing for the past 7 months. Kate took a deep, unsteady breath as his lips traced her jawline, moving to the spot behind her ear that he knew drove her crazy. He nuzzled the spot with his nose, before moving his mouth to her ear.

"That man was talking about you in the bathroom."

Feeling lightheaded, it took Kate a moment to respond you.

"Huh?" she said, breathlessly.

She felt him chuckle in her ear at his reaction. Frustrated, she tried to push him off again, but he held her tighter.

"That creep who was hitting on you," he said, his voice taking on a dark tone, "was at the sinks with his buddy, talking about you in an… inappropriate way." He moved his mouth slightly and ran his lips along her jaw, "a way that another man…" he placed an open mouth kiss on the spot, "… should _never_…" another kiss, "talk about another man's girlfriend…" one more kiss before he made his way back to her ear, "… unless he wants to get punched in the face."

She took a deep breath and he continued.

"He said that you were the 'finest piece of ass in this place'," one of his hands snaked down her side and around her back, cupping her in his hand and pressing her harder against him, "which I'd have to agree with, but to say it in such a way..." Rick scraped his teeth against the juncture of Kate's jaw and her neck, "does you such a disservice."

If she wasn't having trouble breathing, she would have rolled her eyes. Instead, she reached out and grabbed the lapels of his suit jacket, using him to keep her upright.

"He told his buddy that he was going to get you alone even if it took all night," Rick brought her earlobe in between his teeth, "said that he was going to, and I quote, 'pound you like yesterday's beef'," she almost laughed at the saying until she felt his teeth sink into her earlobe. Instead she gasped. His tongue soothed the spot where his teeth had just been, "He said he was going to have you screaming his name until you lost your voice…" He trailed off, his voice still laced with anger.

Pulling back he moved his hands from her body to her cheeks and softly pulled her face to his, the gentle touch a startling contrast to the edge in his voice and the darkness in his eyes.

"But he can't have you."

Before Rick could even comprehend what was happening, Kate's lips were on his, her hands fisting his coat as she arched herself into him, trying to get as close to him as she could. God, he loved when she did that. It was like there was nothing more important than her being as close to him as was physically possible. She forced his mouth open with hers, sliding her tongue into his mouth as he enthusiastically reciprocated.

He moved his hands up and down her sides, the sequins on her dress scratching his palms in the most arousing way. Moving down, he grasped her hips tightly before hoisting her up. Never breaking the kiss, Kate wrapped her legs around his waist, clenching him to her as tightly as he possibly could. He felt her heels dig into the back of his thighs and it spurred him on, tilting his head to the side so he could deepen their kiss even further. One of her hands left the lapels of his jacket and tugged at the knot of his tie, pulling it loose slightly before forcing her lips away from his.

Giving herself a moment to breath, she tilted her head down and latched her lips onto her neck, sucking that place on his jaw that she knew drove him wild. He groaned, pressing her back harder against the wall and pushing himself closer to her.

A loud bang coming from beside them startled them, forcing them to break their kiss. There was no time to make themselves look presentable as another couple, clearly intoxicated, made their way into the same stairwell. The man was groping at the woman in his arms who was giggling the entire time. The woman quickly realized however, that they weren't alone. Looking over at Kate and Rick, she startled slightly.

"Oh!" she giggled, taking in the sight of Kate with her legs wrapped around Rick against the wall, his hands hidden beneath the hem of her skirt with both of them breathing heavily, "It looks like this stairwell is already taken. Come on, Carl," she said, tugging the disappointed man back out the door. Before leaving completely however, she looked back at Kate and Rick again. She smiled before she giggled again, "It's all yours."

And then she was gone.

Rick looked back at his girlfriend, worried that the mood had been ruined, but when he saw the fire still burning in her eyes, he immediately felt it again, too.

Kate slowly unwrapped her legs from his waist, and he set her down gently, making sure that she didn't lose her footing. Smiling at him, she grabbed his hand and began the painful (for him at least) ascent up the stairs to the 9th floor of the hotel. As she led him out of the stairwell, he watched her find the number of the room he had booked them for the night. Stopping in front of the door, Kate turned around to face Rick, sneaking her hand into his front pocket and procuring the room key. She opened the door and he waited in anticipation, nearly carrying her into the room as soon as he heard the lock open. He closed the door behind them, flicking the dead bolt just because he really didn't want anyone interrupting them again.

When he turned around, Kate was there, shrugging his jacket off his shoulders and pulling the tie fully from his collar. She sealed her lips to his and began to work on unbuttoning the buttons of his dress shirt. He nearly groaned when she pulled away slightly.

"She was right you know," Kate said, walking him over towards the bed, ridding him of his shirt all the while, her words spoken against his lips.

His hand found the zipper on the back of her dress and slid it down slowly, his fingers teasing the skin of her back that was exposed to him.

"About what?" he murmured, moving his hand back up to her shoulders and beginning to slide one of the straps of her dress down her arm.

Before he could register what was happening, he was lying flat on his back and the bed, looking up at Kate. He watched her step out of her dress and toe off her heels with wide eyes, before she crawled onto the bed after him, effectively straddling him. He felt one of her hands snake down to his belt before her mouth was back on his. She kissed him tenderly, once, twice, three times before she pulled back and gave him a sultry smile.

"I'm all yours."

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><p>Yeah... so uh... yeah... Let's just call this a test of my writing abilities...<br>Also, "pound you like yesterday's beef" is an actual quote from my friend Erin. I still laugh when I think about it.  
><strong>Love it? Hate it? <strong>**Let me know what you think.**


	2. Book Parties & Bathrooms

SO I CAN PROBABLY GUARANTEE THAT THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED IF I UPDATED THIS. But there are a few things you should know about me:  
>1. I'm incapable of writing multi-chapter stories.<br>2. I'm consistently embarrassed by my own thoughts.

That being said, writing "Yours, Mine, and No One Elses" has thoroughly convinced me that possessive!Caskett is one of my favorite things ever.

SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR ALL OF YOU?  
>It means that I'm turning "Yours, Mine, and No One Elses" into a series of one-shots centered around possessive!Caskett to be updated whenever the inspiration strikes.<p>

Yay! Maybe... I don't actually know if any of you want that to happen...

But, if you are intrigued, you should keep reading :)

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><p>Book Parties &amp; Bathrooms<p>

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><p><em>I knew I shouldn't have come<em> _to this thing._

That was the only thing on Kate Beckett's mind as she stood next to a chatty woman who clearly didn't realize her thoughts were elsewhere, a glass of wine to her lips as she sipped it slowly.

The woman was droning on about how lovely the book party was and how excited she was to be there, but Kate wasn't paying attention. No, her attention was focused entirely on the reason she was here to begin with: the man of the hour, the one and only Richard Castle. The same Richard Castle that had been her boyfriend for over a year who was currently surrounded by a group of women with dresses that were cut too low and way too short for her liking.

The woman, apparently noticing that the detective wasn't paying much attention followed Kate's line of sight until she nodded.

"Ah," she said, "He really is handsome, isn't he?"

Kate pursed her lips, her eyes still glued to Rick, "Indeed he is," she ground out, trying to keep her tone pleasant while fighting the urge to walk over there, throw him down on the table of his own books, and show the women who were currently puffing their chests out at the writer that he wasn't available.

He looked good tonight. _Really_ good. The venue combined with the number of people in attendance made the room uncharacteristically hot. Rick had taken off his jacket half an hour ago, loosening his tie slightly and rolling up the sleeves of his dark red dress shirt. He was enjoying the spotlight and talking to his fans and damn if he didn't look amazing doing it. When he took off the jacket it was so much easier to his biceps and the way his shirt fit snug around his chest.

Kate realized the woman was still talking.

"Yes, but from what the papers say he's quite taken with that Detective of his. They've been together for quite some time…"

Kate wasn't surprised the woman next to her didn't recognize her. Because of her job and the dangers of being recognized (and because he knew how private she was), Rick had done an amazing job of making sure that her picture wasn't in the paper often. The last time she had shown up in the papers was just after they had started dating, and she was a little thinner and her hair had been a shade lighter and shorter back then.

Kate allowed herself a small smile, still looking at her boyfriend. God, she hated that term. It made it sound so juvenile. He was so much than just her boyfriend. He was her partner and her best friend. He filled that space in her life and her heart that she had allowed to be empty for so long.

And besides, the things he could do to her? There was _nothing_ juvenile about that.

"… I guess," the woman continued, nudging Kate slightly, "they're just hoping that he still has some of that bad boy, wild streak left in him."

Kate felt the smile fall from her lips, her hand curling around the stem of her wine glass a little tighter then before. She bit her tongue, sensing that it wouldn't be appropriate to inform the woman who was old enough to be her mother that Rick still had plenty of wild left in him, as evidenced by what they did last night in the shower, or this afternoon on the dresser when they were supposed to be getting ready for this stupid party.

She knew she shouldn't have come. She hated his public persona, and he knew that, but when he approached her a month ago and asked her to come with him, he had looked at her with those puppy dog eyes she pretended she could resist. And then when she said she would his entire face lit up like the sun and he had hugged her so tight he lifted her off the ground before kissing her soundly.

She was interrupted from her memories again when she saw one of the women around her boyfriend (she was blonde, go figure), push her impressive chest up at him again. He gave her one of his charming smiles, and grabbed her arm, signing her forearm instead.

Kate felt a small sense of pride at her boyfriend, knowing that he had stopped signing chests since they had gotten together (and long before that, if she was being honest with herself. Though, she knew it was still because of her). However, that faded when she saw the blonde reach up towards Rick's face, slide her hands through his hair and grab the pen that was resting behind his ear. The buxom blonde then reached out to grab his hand, pulling his arm close to her before writing something on it. From where Kate was standing, it looked like a phone number.

Oh, _hell_ no.

Kate quickly put her drink down on the table next to her, muttering a quick "excuse me" to the woman next to her, and marched over to where Rick was standing. At the familiar sound of heels moving towards him, he looked up and saw her. He started to smile, but it quickly faded when he saw the look on her face.

She looked murderous.

Before he could say anything to excuse himself from the people in front of him, Kate was already there. Forcing herself through the wall of blondes (why were they _always _blonde?) she grabbed his tie and began walking away from them. Rick stumbled for a moment, before finding his step behind her, watching the chiffon of her dress sway with her hips. He swallowed.

This was either going to end very badly, or go really _really_ well.

He couldn't decide.

Rick watched as his girlfriend came to a stop in front of a door and look from side to side as if checking to see if someone was watching. He nearly scoffed. As if they hadn't just seen her drag him out of the room by his tie…

Satisfied with whatever she saw, she ripped open the door and pulled him inside.

He looked around quickly and smirked. She had dragged him into the men's room.

_How deliciously clichéd._

Kate made a quick visual sweep of the bathroom, making sure it was empty before turning on him. When she caught sight of his smirk, she glared at him, folding her arms across her chest.

Rick's grin faltered, realizing that she was not in the mood to be teased, and he took the more cautious approach.

"Not that I'm not delighted you dragged me in here," he said, his voice low as if he were trying to talk his way out of a bullet, "but what did I do to deserve it?"

She continued to glare at him but he saw her eyes flicker down towards his forearm. He followed her gaze and saw the number that woman (was her name Kelly? Or Carly? He couldn't remember) had written there.

Oh.

_Oh…_

Now he understood.

"You're jealous," he said, his eyes sparkling with hidden delight.

She quickly shook her head, pushing him against the sink, "I'm not jealous."

He opened his mouth to refute her and let her know that what she was doing clearly proved that she was jealous. She cut him off.

Walking over to him, Kate pressed herself fully against him, "I'm angry," she said, looking directly in his eyes, "that people know that we're together but think they can still have you." She ground her lower body against his, and he bit back a groan. "You're mine," she whispered with a predatory look in her eye. Her hands moved up to his head and grabbed a fist full of his hair, bringing his face so close to hers that their foreheads were pressed together. She shook her head slightly, almost like what she was about to say was the most obvious thing in the world, "And I don't share."

Before he could respond that he didn't want her to share him, her lips were on his with bruising force. He moaned at the contact and she took the opportunity to slide her tongue forcefully into his mouth, teeth clashing and tongues dancing together in their eternal struggle for dominance. His hands found her waist and he pulled her even closer to him, hoping that she could feel just how much she was affecting him and by the moan he just felt vibrate through her tongue, he was almost certain she had.

He felt her hands move down his chest, but he didn't stop kissing her. It wasn't until she tore her mouth away from his that he realized she had wrapped her long fingers around his wrist. He felt her yank his arm away from the counter and thought she was going to scrub off the number under the sink. He didn't care. The only person he cared about was her and the way her hips felt cradled in between his.

He watched as she lifted his forearm up to her face, so close that her nose was brushing his skin. He watched her lick her lips before darting her tongue out and licking his skin. He groaned. He felt her smirk.

_That tease_, he thought, _she knows exactly what she does to -_

All coherent thought left him quickly after that. He watched her place her tongue flat against his forearm. She slowly licked across the ink that was there, never breaking eye contact with him. When she finished, she took the hand that was wrapped around his wrist and slid it down over the wet spot, effectively making the number illegible. And then she quirked one of her perfectly arched eyebrows at him, daring him to do something about it.

He swallowed hard.

_Well, that was certainly another way to do it._

He couldn't stop himself. He moved his hands up to her face and brought her lips towards his, biting and teasing all the while. Rick moved his hips into hers again, trying to bring her as close as possible, but she arched away, denying him the satisfaction. Quicker than he thought he was capable of doing, he moved his hands to her hips and, spinning them around, lifted her up onto the sink, settling into the space between her legs. She in turn, wrapped her legs tightly around his waist.

Tearing herself from his lips once again, she made her way towards his neck. He released his hold on her hips and braced his hands on the side of her, bowing his head as he tried to control his breathing. She twisted herself slightly so she could get to the hollow of his ear, and he clenched his hands into fists as she latched onto the spot, sucking on the muscle there and most definitely leaving a bruise.

She was marking him, telling everyone out there without words that he wasn't available.

Because she had dragged him out of his own book party by his tie, marched him into the men's room, and left her mark on his neck in the span of five minutes.

And he had let her.

He shivered.

He would always let her.

Before he could move, he felt her mouth relax over the mark she made, placing a soft kiss there before pulling her face away from his. She leaned back slightly, placing one of her hands underneath his chin and forcing him to look at her.

What he saw was pure love, and he felt all the air escape from his lung yet again.

With her free hand, she moved to fix his hair, flattening it back down so it didn't look like she had just spent the last five minutes running her fingers through it. She ran her thumb over his lips, trying to wipe off some of her lipstick. He sucked her finger into his mouth, and she allowed it for a moment before pulling it away. She moved her hands down to his shirt, straightening his tie and the collar of his shirt. Then, she moved her hands down his arms. One arm at a time, she rolled his shirt sleeves back down his arms, buttoning the cuffs when she got to his wrists.

She looked back up at him and saw him staring at her. She blushed slightly as his gaze, his eyes still dark with desire.

Pushing on his chest slightly, she maneuvered herself off of the sink and back onto the ground. With a quick look in the mirror, she adjusted her dress and played with her hair, fluffing out some of the curls and smoothing down some of the fly-aways. She fixed her lipstick and looked back at Rick who was still hunched over the sink, his eyes following her every move in the reflection.

She leaned over to him and nuzzled her face against his ear.

"No more numbers," she whispered.

He nodded.

"As you wish, love," he choked out

She gave him a small smile and kissed his cheek briefly before walking towards the door. Her voice teased him as it echoed back to him through the bathroom.

"Take a minute, Rick. I'm sure your fans are wondering what happened to you."

And then she was gone.

Rick lifted a hand from the sink and ran it over his face, taking in his appearance. His hair was still a mess, and his lips were swollen and red from what had just happened. Tilting his head slightly, he looked at the spot on his neck where she had marked him.

It was already dark.

He groaned again, remembering the feel of her lips on his neck, and dropped his head back down, squeezing his eyes shut.

This woman was going to be the death of him.

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><p>I went through this to look for mistakes... but it's 3:37 in the morning and my eyes hurt.<br>As always, **Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think!**


	3. Bullpens & Coffee Machines

First of all, I was blown away by the amount of favorites/reviews/alerts for this series. It seems that Possessive!Caskett is more popular than I thought.  
>(It is pretty hard not to like... let's be real)<p>

Next: more things you should know about me:  
>1. I'm terrible at proofreading my own stuff.<br>2. I don't write ~actual smut. I'm better at softcore foreplay.

That is all. I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Castle. le sighhhhhh

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><p>Bullpens &amp; Coffee Machines<p>

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><p>Rick wasn't sure this day could get any worse.<p>

It started off with a spilled cup of coffee in the morning, which turned into a heated argument in the car on the way from their loft to the precinct. And then their case fell apart underneath their feet and new people were brought in and one of them in particular had decided that Kate was going to be his newest challenge and it had put Rick on edge since the minute the new crew had walked out of the elevator. The only thing that made the day slightly bearable was the fact that Gates was nowhere to be seen, in meetings at another precinct on the other side of the city all day. A case with no leads meant a very frustrated Captain, and when the Captain was angry, it was not a good day to be a civilian consultant.

He watched Kate look down at her nearly empty coffee mug and sigh, the internal struggle between not wanting to actually get up and make herself another cup and really needing the caffeine clear. He watched her lean forward over her desk, hunching her shoulders slightly. Usually, this would be the point Rick would get up, pry the white mug from her slender fingers, and go and make some more coffee. He'd make her a cup exactly how she likes it, never messing up, and when he'd return to present her his espresso masterpiece, she would give him _that_ smile. The smile that said everything she couldn't say while she was at work: _thank you, I appreciate you, I love you._

But unfortunately (for Kate anyway) he wasn't going to leave her alone in the bullpen. Not with that arrogant punk Anderson. He looked over at said punk and found that his eyes were once again glued to his girlfriend, specifically the neckline of her modest, but still rather low cut sweater. He watched as Anderson ogled his girlfriend while he was supposedly waiting for Ryan and Esposito to get back from a sting so he could tell them what he found out, his jaw moving up and down and his fingers rubbing themselves along the fabric of his pants.

That asshole was fantasizing about Kate right in front of him. What sort of low life fantasizes about a woman while he was supposed to be working? Just staring at the object of his fantasy while she's working, under the pretense of doing your own job? It's just creepy…

He can hear Kate rolling her eyes at him.

Okay, but it was different for Rick. He wasn't _officially_ employed with the NYPD. And Kate was _his _girlfriend. Rick wasn't in a relationship with Kate because of how good she was in bed (but she _is _spectacular). He didn't just want her body; he wanted everything. He is going to marry Kate Beckett one day. He was madly in love with her. And for some reason she loved him just as much.

Rick's musings were cut off as he watched Anderson shift in his seat, leaning forward, his eyes raking up and down Beckett's form before returning back to her chest.

That's it.

Rick pushed himself up out of his chair and moved quickly to stand behind his very frustrated Detective. He couldn't blame her. This case had been driving her crazy. Every lead they thought they had turned out to be a dead end. There were no witnesses, barely any evidence, and the vic was a member of the mayor's circle. That's why Anderson, an FBI agent straight out of training, was here. He was supposed to be helping solve the case. Instead, he was eye-fucking his girlfriend when he thought nobody was looking…

Gently, Rick reached out and placed his hands softly on Kate's tense shoulders. Rubbing them slightly he pulled her back so her spine was straight against the back of her chair. She stiffened slightly before he heard her let out a breath and relax slightly under his touch, tilting her head slightly to the side, the skin of his knuckles brushing against the soft skin of her cheek.

Clearly being angry at him from their fights that morning wasn't worth the energy anymore.

He squeezed her shoulder slightly before he ran his other hand along the base of her neck and the curls that he had watched her style in their bathroom as he was getting dressed. Rick leaned down and placed his lips against her ear.

"Come with me," he murmured. Rick didn't give her a chance to say no before he spun her chair around slowly so she's ended up facing him. He took one of her hands in his and pulled her to her feet. Once she was up and steady, Rick shifted so he is standing next to her and he put a hand on the small of her back, leading her towards the break room.

As he walked he threw a quick glance back at Anderson, whose cheeks looked a little bit redder and eyes looked a little bit wider. Rick couldn't help but glare back at Anderson, his eyes saying everything he couldn't say out loud without Kate either killing him or seriously maiming him.

_You can't have her. She's _mine.

As the two walked into the break room, Kate immediately walked towards the coffee machine. Rick took a moment and shut the break room door behind them, effectively separating themselves from Anderson and the rest of the officers shuffling around in the bullpen.

He watched her pull down two mugs and start preparing what she needed to make their coffee. Rick had other ideas. Still furious about the situation with Anderson, he walked purposefully towards Kate.

When she had her hands free, Rick once again placed a hand on her shoulder. This time though, he wasn't gentle. Spinning her around quickly, he used his free hand to catch her chin between his fingers. He pressed her hard against the counter and crashed his lips down onto hers.

He felt more than heard her gasp in surprise and he took it as an opportunity to deepen the kiss. That gasp turned into a moan as she eagerly returned his desire. He felt her hands move to run up his chest, but when they brushed across a button, he felt her tense. Suddenly, her hands weren't skimming over his chest. Rick felt Kate start to push against him. He relented and released her lips from his, but not before taking the bottom one between his teeth and sucking on it for a moment.

When he leaned back, he looked at her swollen lips and felt her rub his own together, trying to infuse the taste of her permanently into them. He watched as her eyes slowly slide open but she froze as soon as she met his gaze.

He could only imagine what she saw there: anger, frustration, love, and (what probably set her off) a great deal of lust.

"No," she said, shaking her head as if she were trying to clear her head of him.

"You know, kissing has been known to relieve stress," Rick smirked, running a hand up her side, "You look really stressed, sweetheart."

She glared at him, "No," she said again. "We're… _I'm_ at work."

Kate pushed him away and turned her back to him, continuing to prepare the two cups of coffee she had originally started.

That didn't deter Rick, though.

Moving to stand behind Kate, he put his arms around her and placed them on the edge of the counter in front of the coffee machine, trapping her between his arms. She huffed and put down coffee mug she had just picked up again and placed her hands on the counter between his. She huffed in annoyance, preparing to chew him out for whatever he thought he was doing when his hands moved to cover hers. She felt Rick press his entire body against her back as he pushed her against the counter. His lips found the place on her neck that he knew drove her crazy, pushing her hair out of his way as he sucked on it softly.

"Do you feel it?" he mumbled against her skin.

Does she feel it? Right now, she feels _everything_. She's going to need some clarification.

"Feel what?"

She grimaced at how breathless she sounded.

He sucked a little harder on her neck.

"Can you feel him mentally undressing you?"

Rick doesn't give her a chance to respond though.

"I can," he continued, sliding his hands under the edge of her sweater and letting his fingertips brush the sensitive skin there, "I feel it every time he looks at you like he thinks he can have you." Teasingly, he pushed his fingers down just past the waistband of her slacks.

She exhaled loudly, her hands forming fists on the counter. Her eyes slammed shut as she tried to focus.

"Who?" she said, but he just kept touching her. "Anderson?" she squeaked as his fingers dipped a little lower, thumbing the place on her hip that he knew drove her insane.

"Ah," he said, exhaling against her skin, "so you have noticed."

She rolled her eyes, "he's not my type."

"But you're his," he said sharply. "Tall… smart… beautiful…" he punctuated each of his compliments with kisses on the back of her neck, "Incredibly sexy… Who wouldn't want you?"

She wanted to tell him that it didn't matter because the only person _she_ wanted was him, but when Rick's hands moved even further down the front of her pants, she lost the ability to think coherently.

"He was fantasizing about you," his voice barely above a whisper, "probably dreaming of doing exactly what we're doing right now." He pulled his hand out of her pants and she bit back a whimper, pushing her hips back against his. Rick's hands once again began to trace patterns up and down her abdomen, skimming past her ribs and the underside of her breasts, but still avoiding touching what he knew she wanted him to. "He probably thinks about what it would be like to touch you. What sounds would fall out of your perfect mouth when you come undone. What you smell like…" Rick leaned forward and placed an open-mouth kiss behind her ear, sneaking his tongue out to press against her skin, "…What you _taste _like."

And then, before Kate could even register what was happening, he was gone.

She opened her eyes and quickly spun around, finding him standing just a few feet behind her, looking at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. She took an unsteady step towards him and he moved closer to her as well, grabbing her hands and bringing them chest to chest.

"He's selling you short," he said, his eyes on fire, "He's making you seem one-dimensional." Rick let his eyes trail down from her eyes to her body that was pulled flush against him, "His mind couldn't even begin to imagine the perfection that is you."

She rolled her eyes but made no move to get away from him. He took that as encouragement.

"He's probably imagining that your skin feels like satin, but he's wrong…" he said vehemently, his fingers tracing circles on the skin of her wrists still encased in his hands, "…Your skin is smooth and perfect and painted with the battle scars. I know every bump, every scar, every single freckle that makes you who you are by heart."

"That man out there probably thinks that when you fall apart, you'd scream out his name, but he's wrong again…" releasing one of her hands, Rick brought his hand to Kate's mouth and softly ran his thumb over her lips, staring at them as if they were the most amazing things in the world. "No…" he continued, "… You're quiet. Even when no one else is home… No matter how much I beg you to speak up…" he shook his head, smiling briefly before his calm mask slide back into place, "but there is nothing like the sound of _my _name falling off your lips in that soft, little, whimper, as if I took your breath away."

Moving his hand to the curls falling behind her ear, Rick leaned in and pressed his nose against her hair, inhaling deeply.

"You smell like cherries. Perhaps he caught a whiff of that as you walked by him earlier, but there's something else there… Something that should immediately make a man back off," his voice went cold again but Kate could feel him smile slightly against her hair. "You smell like _me_," he murmured, "like I've permeated into your skin and become a part of you." He placed a kiss into her hair and then continued.

"And as for what you taste like? I don't think even _I_ could describe it…" As Rick spoke he moved his hand up to cup her cheek, tilting her lips up to his. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, breathing his words against her supple skin, "… like a mixture of coffee and cinnamon and forever that is simply…" Rick pulled her bottom lip between his, sucking on it gently before letting it go. He moaned softly, "… intoxicating."

Rick cleared his throat, "He has no idea what you're capable of, Detective. And you know what?..."

Kate hadn't realized that she had closed her eyes until she had to open them to look at him as she felt him begin to pull away.

He waited until she was looking directly at him when he whispered, "He's never going to… because I'm not letting you go."

Kate opened her mouth to speak, torn between telling him that she wasn't some toy he could put his name on and kissing him senseless. As he removed himself fully from her and began to walk back towards the coffee machine, she made her decision.

Grabbing his hand as he walked past her, she jerked him around quickly before crashing her lips to his. He froze for only a second before he responded just as enthusiastically, spinning her around and leading her back towards the coffee machine. As Kate's hips hit the counter, she instinctively pushed her hips into Rick's, swallowing his groan. She pushed her tongue past his lips, and he eagerly opened his mouth to her.

Kate was completely engrossed in kissing Castle when he thought he heard the door open. Unwilling to stop kissing her just in case he was wrong, he opened his eyes slightly and looked towards the door out of the corner of his eye. He was right, someone did open the door.

It was Anderson.

He fought the urge to smirk at the man's slack-jawed expression, but he decided to prove that in some situations, actions speak louder than words.

Rick's hands found a place on Kate's waist, her sweater bunching up underneath his palms. She in turn wrapped a leg around his waist, trying to pull him as close to her as she could, moaning softly as she felt him pressed against her. He pushed her harder against the counter, closing his eyes again as she deepened the kiss even further.

It was then that Anderson cleared his throat and Kate tore her lips away from his, her eyes, wide and dark, immediately finding Anderson's form by the door. She looked at him, her stare half expectant, half annoyed.

(The fact that she wasn't embarrassed for getting caught making out with him in the break room by a coworker wasn't lost on him. He gripped her waist a little tighter.)

"Um…" Anderson stuttered, "Ryan and Esposito are back. They, uh… they found the murder weapon…" He shifted awkwardly from side to side, "… thought you should know…"

Kate cut him off, her tone sharp, "We'll be out in a minute, Anderson. Thank you."

He nodded and left the room quickly.

If Kate's leg wasn't still wrapped around his waist, he would've laughed.

He did, however, not even bother to hide his smirk.

Rick felt Kate pull back away from him and see his expression before he had a chance to mask it.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You knew." She said coldly, her tone not leaving any room for denial.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to try though. He tried to play the innocent, "What? Of course not! If I would've known he was there, I would've immediately stopped you from kissing me. It was inappropriate work place behavior, Detective!"

He watched her roll her eyes at him, but the small smile that she always tried to hide was forming along her lips as her cheeks blushed slightly and he felt himself fall a little more in love with her.

Rick smiled at the woman in front of him and took a small step back. He felt Kate's leg slide from its place at his hip before he began to move his hands off of her waist.

"But this is a good thing," he said, straightening her sweater for her, before leaning in and giving her a quick peck, "now he knows better."

She glared at him for a moment, before he grabbed both of her hands and pulled her away from the counter. Leading her towards the door, he gestured for her to go through.

"You go," he said, a teasing smile on his lips, "I'll get you some coffee."

She bit back a smile before shaking her head and moving over towards the boys at the murder board. He saw Anderson look at her quickly before he caught sight of him over his shoulder, and he quickly diverted his attention back to Ryan and Esposito.

Rick smirked again and moved back towards the coffee machine, starting to prepare his masterpiece. He couldn't keep his smirk from fading into a smile that threatened to take over his entire face.

This day could've been much, _much _worse.

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><p>Well there you go!<br>I hope everyone has a happy & safe time celebrating the New Year, and if it's already the New Year wherever you're reading this from, Happy 2012! :)

As always, **Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think!**


	4. Movie Premieres & Red Carpets

Wassup? Wassup? hahahaha, kidding.

More Things You Should Know (not necessarily about me, but just in general)  
>1. This story is technically still a work in progress. I only have it labelled as complete because technically each update can stand on its own. I may change it later on... who knows.<br>2. I have at least 2 more situations in mind that I can keep this going with.  
>3. This popped into my head in the shower last night.<br>4. I'm not entirely happy with it, but I guess that's not really a surprise because I'm rarely happy with anything.

Might be a little OOC, and it's more cute than sexy but still possessive... whoops.

**Disclaimer** - Anything you recognize, I don't own. I created Carson Phillips though. Yeah... I like him.

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><p>Movie Premieres &amp; Red Carpets<p>

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><p>When Rick Castle received his invitation to attend the world premiere of the Heat Wave movie in New York, he had immediately jumped on the opportunity to ask Kate Beckett, his extraordinary muse, to go with him. Apparently though, Kate had already received an invitation herself. She had told him that she didn't think she was going to go, but when he offered to go with her and stay with her the entire night, she knew she didn't really have a choice. Kate was slightly skeptical about the entire thing, but she had eventually agreed to go with him.<p>

Which is why the two of them had just walked out of the town car and stepped onto the red carpet outside of the theater. They were however, (thankfully) ignored and walked over to Paula and the people she was surrounded by to get the details of the night. While both of them would have been content to just sit and watch the movies like the other people invited, Rick didn't have that luxury.

Natalie Rhodes and Carson Phillips, the actor playing Rook in the movie, had arrived just before she and Castle had. Kate and Rick looked on as the two actors stood in front of them on the red carpet, smiling for the cameras, clearly the center of attention, absorbing everything about the night. It wasn't until Natalie Rhodes looked over and caught sight of the writer and the detective talking with the three agents in attendance that the night started going downhill.

It was decided between all of the agents that it would be wonderful publicity for all of them to pose together for the paparazzi. Kate watched as Rick walked out with Carson, and the photographers went crazy, the real life Rook and the silver screen representation proving to be photographic gold. Rick and Carson laughed in good humor, ignoring the questions the photographers were yelling at them.

She smiled at the picture in front of her. As clichéd and stupid as it may seem, she was proud of Rick. He was obviously incredibly excited about seeing his story (which, if she was being honest with herself, was _their_ story) portrayed up on the silver screen. He had written a book that captured the attention of screenwriters in Hollywood, he had given his insight into his characters to the directors, and the reviews from the pre-screening were claiming that watching the movie was literally like watching Rick's story play out in front of them; that in the future people looking recreate books in movie format should take note of Rick's role in helping the screenwriters, because they were doing it right.

Kate was brought out of her musings when she felt someone tugging on her arm. Surprised, she looked over and saw Natalie with her hand wrapped around her bicep.

"Come on, Detective," Natalie said, pulling Kate out onto the red carpet, toward the biggest crowd of paparazzi, "we can't let the boys have all the fun, can we?"

Kate didn't even have time to be nervous. As soon as the two of them came into view, the paparazzi's attention immediately left Rick and Carson and focused entirely on Kate and Natalie. Natalie quickly struck a pose, hooking her arm through Kate's and smiling. Kate mirrored her, taking a deep breath and placing her hand on her waist before looking out into the sea of blinding camera flashes.

Only a moment passed before she heard Natalie's voice, confirming the lurking suspicion Kate had in the back of her mind that Natalie Rhodes had ulterior motives other than showing the boys up.

"So I saw you making pretty serious eyes at Castle back there," Natalie said, still smiling at the cameras.

Kate took special care in making sure she kept her expression even, even though she felt her hand clench tighter on her waist. Natalie continued.

"He does look really good tonight."

Kate's mind went back to earlier that evening, when she had watched him get dressed from her spot on his bed where she had been sitting after she had showered and did her hair. She always loved him in his suits, but Rick in a classic black tux was quite possibly one of her favorite looks on him. In fact, she told him so, and Rick had looked back to see her sitting on the bed in only one of his dress shirts that he had left in the bathroom while he was deciding what he should wear and any retort he thought he had gave way to a slack-jawed expression that had Kate smirking.

She loved that even after six months of dating, she could still render him speechless.

_Dating_.

It still knocked her breathless when she thought about it. She was dating Richard Castle. She was dating Richard Castle and she couldn't have possibly been any happier. They still fought, and they still had moments where they couldn't stand each other, but those 6 months had undoubtedly been the most fulfilling months of Kate's life. Despite all of her doubts, _they_ worked. They kept their relationship professional at work (well… mostly) and had transferred their partnership to a more personal relationship. Days off were spent lounging on the couch together, she participated in Castle family game nights and family dinners, and more and more of Kate's clothes and belongings were making their home at the loft.

But Natalie Rhodes (or the press for that matter) didn't know any of that.

Because by the grace of some inexplicable miracle, the press still hadn't caught on to the change in their relationship. They had told the people who mattered most – his family, her father, the boys, Lanie, and begrudgingly Gates (who surprisingly said she would allow it until it started interfering with Kate's performance). They hadn't found a reason to inform the press. Hell, even Paula hadn't even noticed it, which was saying something because she prided herself on being able to read Richard Castle like one of his books.

And Kate liked it like that. The love they had for each other wasn't any of their business anyway. She knew they would find out eventually, but Rick was more than happy to keep it quiet for now so they intended to keep it that way.

Realizing quickly that Natalie was waiting for a response, she hummed an affirmation.

"Mhm," Kate said, still not looking away from the cameras, "he cleans up well."

Natalie hummed.

"So, did the verbal masturbation finally turn into literal masturbation?"

"Castle and I are partners," Kate said, choosing to deflect the question involving she and Castle's sex life, "what he chooses to do in his spare time and in his own company is not my concern."

Natalie hummed again and Kate felt her jaw clench, deciding that Natalie's mumbles were quickly becoming her least favorite sounds.

"So I guess that means I have permission to try again?"

Kate finally did break eye contact with the cameras to stare at Natalie.

"Try what again?" Kate said warily.

Natalie stepped away from Kate and straightened out her dress, standing a little taller as she stood face to face with the detective. Natalie smiled.

"You know, they're almost certain that they're going to make _Naked Heat _into a movie," Natalie said, her eyes closing slightly, warning Kate that she probably wouldn't like what Natalie was going to say. "And I still haven't completed my… _research_ yet…"

Kate felt herself tense and immediately realized what Natalie was going to try to do again: her boyfriend. Her perverse belief that in order to play Nikki Heat accurately on the big screen she had to sleep with Rick was going to make her try again. Try to sleep with Rick again. Try to sleep with her boyfriend again.

Kate opened her mouth to respond but instead squeaked quietly when someone grabbed her arm and spun her around. An arm wrapped around her waist and held her close, and she registered more camera flashes going off. A new string of questions infiltrated her ear as she looked up and saw herself pressed against Carson.

She had only met Carson once before, but they had gotten along well. He didn't share his co-stars insane desire to sleep with her in the name of research, which was definitely an added bonus. But they seriously hit it off quite well. He thought she was hysterical and he was really down to earth so the time they spent together was thoroughly enjoyable.

It also helped that he was in a relationship. William was a lucky man.

"So my dear," he said teasingly, "how does it feel to be the Belle of the red carpet?"

Kate laughed slightly, "What do you mean?"

Carson chuckled quietly, still looking at the cameras, "Oh please, Detective, you have to know that you are actually what all the cameras are looking at. You should have felt Natalie tense up as soon as you got out of that town car. You're radiant."

Kate looked down at herself quickly. Her floor length, light lilac, gown would have had no shape at all if not for the matching satin ribbon that was wrapped tightly around her waist, making her look impossibly tiny. The chiffon almost seemed to float down to the floor around her, hiding her killer silver stilettos which she had bought just for the occasion. The dress had cap sleeves, and the neckline scooped across her chest, hiding her scar but still showing that she definitely wasn't lacking that department. She had kept her make-up light, and her long, loose curls completed the ensemble.

She remembered Rick's expression when he saw it for the first time. He couldn't even form coherent sentences as he walked over and spun her around before kissing her with earnest and telling her over and over again that she was a vision in every sense of the word.

However, Kate scoffed at Carson's sentiment, "Please Carson, everyone here is looking at you and Natalie. You're the stars."

Kate took a quick glance over at Natalie, all leg and sex appeal in her designer, red and orange, Nikki Heat-inspired, sequin couture gown. The dress was one shoulder and was covered in red ruffles. The gown was mostly covered in different shades of red sequins, with lines of orange strategically placed throughout which were supposed to resemble like flames. It was fitted until about hallway down her legs, where it flared out into more red ruffles that matched the ones on her shoulder.

Carson shook his head, "if we're the stars then you and Rick are the sun and the moon. Everyone is _dying_ to know if something is going on between you two."

Kate looked back over again at Rick who was standing next to Natalie and posing with her just like Kate was doing with Carson. She could tell by his smile though that he wasn't comfortable with the position. A quick glance at their backs confirmed why.

They were standing in essentially the same position that she and Carson were. They each had one of their arms wrapped around the other, angled towards each other slightly.

The difference was where Kate had moved her hand so it was pressed back against Carson's upper back, Natalie's was flirting around the bottom of Rick's back, her fingers slipping underneath the hem of his suit jacket every once and a while.

Kate felt herself bristle as she watched the two of them.

She felt Carson shake silently beside her. Looking up, he saw that he was laughing slightly.

"Well, well, well," he said mischievously, "if I didn't know any better I would say that there is certainly _something_ going on between the two of you."

She tried to force herself to relax. She wanted to deny it, she really did. She didn't want everyone to find out this way. But, that desire was nearly matched by Kate's need to walk over to Natalie Rhodes and break every single one of her fingers that was currently making its way along the waistband of Rick's slacks.

She locked eyes with Carson and then looked away, her voice lower and almost sad.

"Maybe," she said.

She and Carson looked over at the other two who were still getting their pictures taken, and Carson took sight of what Natalie was doing.

"Oh dear," he muttered, his hand gripping her waist a little tighter, a silent show of solidarity letting Kate know that he understood, "she's something else isn't she?"

She sighed and shifted her weight slightly, uncomfortably, "Indeed she is."

"Your secret's safe with me," he whispered to her.

She looked up at him and smiled slightly before they both turned back around to look at Natalie and Rick, preparing themselves to walk over towards the other two to take pictures of the four of them together.

And then she watched Natalie Rhodes kiss her boyfriend.

It seemed almost like everything passed in slow motion as she watched Natalie tilt her heads towards Rick and press her lips to his cheek. She saw Rick tense momentarily before realizing that he was still being photographed and tried to relax again, but Kate noticed that his shoulders were stiffer than they would be if he were truly relaxed.

If that was it, Kate would've been fine. She was used to the chaste kisses women gave Castle on the cheek and vice versa. As long as it didn't go any further, she could deal with it, because in the end she knew that she was the only one who would be kissing his lips.

But Natalie Rhodes let her lips linger on Rick's cheek for far too long, and her other hand had reached up and started threading her fingers intimately through the hair around his ear. Natalie Rhodes had effectively pressed her entire body against the side of him, even going so far as to hook one of her ankles around his.

And when Natalie finally moved away, she looked over and caught Kate's eye. She smiled and winked at her, before turning all of her attention back towards Rick.

Rick however, was only looking at Kate. The apology was clear in his eyes, as well as his obvious discomfort and his begging for her to save him.

Without losing eye contact, she whispered a quick, "excuse me" to Carson and extricated herself from his hold, making her way over to Rick. Seeing that she was moving towards him, he unwrapped Natalie from around his leg and shifted on his feet so he was facing her.

If she was focusing on anything other than him, she would've noticed that everyone on the red carpet was watching her. If she was thinking about anything other than the fact that she needed to prove to Natalie Rhodes that she did not have permission to kiss, let alone touch Rick Castle anymore, she wouldn't have gone through with it.

But none of that even crossed her mind. She walked towards Rick with a purpose, the only thing on her mind proving that he was hers, and no one else – no actress, no model, no other woman, would ever have him again.

She was done, and Rick Castle was it, and it was time for everyone else to know that.

When she was mere steps away from him, she watched him open his mouth to – to what? To apologize? Whatever it was, she didn't give him a chance to try.

Because as soon as she was in reaching distance of him, she grabbed his face between both of her hands and brought his face down to hers, crashing her lips onto his.

He froze for a moment, but as soon as she ran her tongue across his lips, he groaned at the sensation and opened his mouth to hers. She shivered against him. Kate moved herself as close to him as she possibly could, arching up into him as she continued to kiss him. She felt his hands move down her dress until they found her hips, anchoring her against him, giving her no chance to move away from him. She moved her hands from his cheek up into his hair, ensuring that he wouldn't be able to escape her kiss.

She felt his moan more than heard it, the deep sound reverberating through her, sending shocks straight to her core. She moaned in turn, and by the way his hands tightened on her hips, it was obvious he had the same reaction as her.

Eventually though, she had to breathe, and she tore her lips away from him with a jagged gasp. She didn't move far though, leaning her forehead against his and looking at him directly in his darkening eyes, trying to control her breathing, her hands sliding from his hair down to his neck, feeling his pulse thrumming quickly underneath her fingertips.

"You're mine," she whispered fiercely. He nodded in response, swallowing hard, still trying to even out his heart rate.

She leaned up to kiss him again, but she suddenly became painfully aware of the roar of the crowd around her, the questions and comments of the paparazzi making their way through the deafening screams and wolf whistles of the fans who were watching behind them. She felt her cheeks heat up, slightly embarrassed by being so possessed by her need to claim him from Natalie Rhodes that she forgot where they were.

She had just made out with Richard Castle. In Public. In front of cameras and photographers and celebrities.

Oops.

She turned her face away from the paparazzi and looked back behind her. She saw Natalie turning red, Carson smirking at her, and all of their publicists looking on in shock, Paula looking like she was ready to have an aneurysm. She was going to be doing a lot of damage control in the morning because of what Kate had just done.

Kate looked back up at Rick who was looking down at her with unbridled love and affection, her lipstick smeared all over his smiling lips, ignoring everyone other than her. Suddenly, her embarrassment seemed pointless. Why on Earth should she be embarrassed because she was in love with Richard Castle? The answer? She shouldn't be.

"I'm yours," Rick nodded in confirmation, "and I don't think we can hide the fact that I am anymore," he whispered. The happiness was clear in his voice, but the underlying worry that she was going to run away screaming was still present as well. He moved his hand up and cupped her cheek, his thumbs brushing along the where the warmth of her blush was quickly fading, making her skin erupt into goosebumps at the tenderness of his touch.

Kate quickly looked back towards all of the flashing lights and then returned her gaze to Rick. She let her hand trail down from its place on his neck down to the lapel of his jacket and back up towards his cheek. She ran her thumb across his lips, smudging some of her lipstick away. His hand fell away from her cheek and back onto her waist. She bit her lip to try and hide the smile breaking out, but it was all in vain. He watched in awe as her brilliant smile slid across her features, knocking him breathless at the sight of her so happy.

She tilted her face back towards his and leaned in towards him.

"Good," she whispered leaning in so he could feel her breathing against his lips, feel her lips brushing against him in a barely there kiss.

"Let them look."

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><p>This is essentially Kate's gown… just add cap sleeves, make it the color of Kate Middleton's purple gown, get rid of the sparkles around the neck and replace the belt with ribbon: google "La Femme 17473"<br>And this is essentially Natalie's gown… just change the colors to red & orange: google "Mac Duggal Couture Style 78511D"

So... **Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think!**


	5. Wedding Receptions & Tables

Four things:  
>1. These just keep getting longer and longer.<br>2. This was not one of the original 2 plots I thought I could go off of. Bonus yay!  
>3. It's 2:39 AM. I'm kind of delusional.<br>4. I started this last week, hoping I'd have it done in time for the wedding. Welp... that didn't work out like I hoped it would.

Thank you everyone for all of your kind reviews and encouragement! It means more than you would ever know :)

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><p>Wedding Receptions &amp; Tables<p>

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><p>Weddings had always been something that Richard Castle enjoyed, especially when they happened to celebrate the marriage between two of his very good friends.<p>

It also didn't hurt that this was the second one in a long time that he had the pleasure of bringing a certain beautiful Detective as his plus one.

As he returned from the bar with two glasses of wine for the pair, he set one down in front of her before taking his rightful place by her side. She smiled at him as he sat down and took a sip of her wine, the two of them sitting in comfortable silence.

"I'm glad she finally came to her senses," Kate said after a moment, leaning back in her seat looking at the happy couple back out on the dance floor. "There are worse things in the world than being married to the love of your life."

Rick glanced over at Kate quickly before returning his gaze back onto Lanie and Esposito who were finishing up their first dance as husband and wife.

"Yeah," he said quietly, his gaze drifting back towards the woman by his side. He gave her a smile, glancing quickly down to her ring finger which was still empty (but not for much longer if he had anything to say about it), "there certainly are."

Rick watched his girlfriend smile at him, the look in her eyes tender. She opened her mouth to reply but she was but off by the DJ announcing that it was time for the bouquet and garter toss.

Castle could tell that Kate didn't really have any intention of getting up, until she saw Lanie glare at her up near the front of the dance floor, in front of a relatively large congregation of single women, consisting of mostly Lanie's cousins. When she noticed the rest of the bridal party waiting at the front, Kate knew she didn't stand a chance. After all, it was Lanie's wedding, and (if Kate was telling him the truth), she was exactly what you would call a – um… bridezilla.

Kate sighed and Rick watched as she stood up slowly, straightening out her dress. In true Esplanie fashion, everything about the wedding was loud and expressive. Lanie's dress had a sweetheart neckline and dipped low in the back. It was sleek and sexy and Esposito's jaw had dropped as he watched her walk down the aisle. For their late December wedding, the pair had gone bold, choosing a combination gold and red which (if the wedding were planned by anyone other than Lanie or a professional planner) could have gone horribly, terribly wrong.

But Lanie knew what she was doing. When it came time to dress the bridal party, she had put all of the groomsmen in black slacks with a black button up, matched with a simple but bold red tie. Standing next to Esposito in his classic black tux, they stood out for miles. And for her bridesmaids… well, Lanie decided they needed to sparkle and look _nearly_ sexy as she did. On nearly any other group of women, it may look childish, but Lanie knew her bridesmaids and picked out a style that was "cute and flirty, but still says I'm even more of a party once this dress is on your floor."

Rick had to thank her for that.

Kate's legs looked like they went on for miles in that short gold sequin dress that flared out in layers of tulle at her waist. Combined with the matching gold heels on her feet, Kate had shelled out a small fortune for that small strapless number, but being Lanie's maid of honor had made her willing to do anything to make this day perfect for her best friend.

As Kate fixed the bust of her dress, she looked over at him and raised one of her delicate eyebrows, a smirk threatening to break free of her lips. He knew he had been caught ogling her. But really could she blame him?

She looked as if she was going to respond, but she locked eyes with someone over his shoulder and quickly began to move over to the center of the dance floor, brushing her hand across his arm as she hurried past. He quickly turned around to watch her walk away.

She was already in the large crowd of women, and once Lanie saw where she was, she gave her a big smile and turned around, preparing to throw the bunch of flowers over her head. The women who stood in front of Kate started moving about excitedly, thrilled about the thought of catching the bouquet. It was all in vain, however, because with an accuracy that Rick didn't know existed, Lanie flung the bouquet of red flowers over her shoulder, hitting Kate directly in the chest, startling her enough that she had to take a step back at the impact.

As soon as Kate caught the bouquet, Rick saw her throw a glare at Lanie, who did nothing but smile and shrug innocently at the Detective who saw right through her tricks. Rick barked out a laugh, which Kate heard from where she was standing halfway across the room. She turned to him, and he threw her a thumbs up, still smiling at her. He watched her bring up the hand that wasn't holding the bouquet and cover her face, and he didn't have to be near her to know she was blushing. His smile grew as he watched Lanie drag Kate off of the dance floor, getting out of the way so Esposito and the rest of the men could make their way to the floor. Ryan, Esposito's best man, brought out a chair and then went to Lanie and offered her his arm, leading her to sit in the chair. Rick stood up and joined the crowd of men awaiting the garter toss. Esposito kneeled in front of Lanie and slipped his hand underneath her dress, keeping his eyes locked on Lanie the entire time, who was obviously telling him with her stare that if he tried anything stupid she would not hesitate to hurt him.

As Esposito finally removed his hand from underneath her dress, revealing a lacy red garter, the deafening roar of Esposito's cousins and old Army buddies was enough to make Rick flinch in response. Esposito searched the crowd, looking for someone, and when he caught sight of Rick, he smiled widely and winked. Not even bothering to turn around, he put the garter on his fingertips and shot it in Rick's direction. However, just as he was about to reach out and grab it, a hand shot out in front of him and snagged the red elastic in midair.

Simultaneously, Rick saw Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie's face crumple in confusion. That was not Rick's arm that had just caught the garter.

That was not part of the plan.

Not planning on let it become an issue on their wedding day, he shrugged his shoulders and threw up his hands nonchalantly, his body language saying everything and then smirked at them in return as he began to make his way off the floor.

_Well, what are you going to do? Don't worry… I'll marry her anyway._

Still looking a little put out, but understanding what he meant, Lanie allowed Esposito to pull her out of her chair, gesturing to Kate that it was her turn to sit down.

Rick watched as Kate walked over quietly towards Lanie and Esposito, both of them giving her an apologetic look. Clearly, she wasn't going to let it ruin their night either, so she smiled at them both in turn and whispered something that made them both smile broadly in response. She walked past them, still holding the bouquet and sat down in the chair that Lanie had previously vacated.

Rick hadn't noticed the man who had snatched the garter make his way up towards the chair until he was there standing in front of Kate. Rick recognized him from before the ceremony. Esposito had introduced him as Mark Collins, a member of the same platoon he had been in during his time in the military. He was tall and lean and had a firm handshake, and he could tell by his gait as he approached Kate's chair that he had already knocked back a few drinks since the reception had started (this was Lanie and Esposito. Of course there was an open bar).

Collins reached out his hand and introduced himself to Kate. Kate, always polite, grasped his hand in hers to shake in turn and gave him a small smile. Collins didn't release her hand however. Instead he brought his knuckles up to his lips and placed a lingering kiss there.

Both Kate and Rick bristled at the touch.

No, he would _not_ make a big deal out of this.

When Collins finally let go of Kate's hand, he knelt down in front of Kate on one knee, and lifted her leg onto his knee. He saw Kate surreptitiously press her thighs closer together, trying to cover as much of herself as possible, clearly uncomfortable but not wanting to make a scene at her best friend's wedding.

Suddenly Rick wasn't a fan of Kate's ridiculously short dress.

Collins, however, was undeterred. Placing one of his hands on the outside of her thigh, he slipped the garter up and over her strong calf, making sure he was in constant contact with her skin, smiling at the wolf whistles and cheers that were coming from the other men in the room who were wishing that they were him.

As Collins finally put the garter around her thigh, his hand came up to rest on the inside of Kate's leg. Kate's hand clenched the bouquet tighter and squeezed her eyes shut, clearly arguing with herself in her mind that breaking the man's nose at Esposito and Lanie's wedding reception was not a good idea.

Before Collins could do anything else, Ryan and Esposito advanced on the two of them. Ryan pulled the slightly intoxicated man to his feet and Esposito grabbed Kate's hands, pulling her out of the chair and linking her arm in his, walking her over towards Castle, in the opposite direction of Collins.

Apparently they didn't like watching their boss being felt up by a stranger either.

When Esposito and Kate finally made their way to Castle, he didn't even give Esposito a chance to say anything. Rick simply held his hand out to Kate and, when she took it, led her back towards their table to sit down.

He pulled out her chair for her and pushed it in when she sat down and then sat back down beside her, his jaw never unclenching.

"I'm sorry," Kate whispered.

Rick took a deep breath, trying to control himself.

"It's not your fault," he said, his voice tight. And it wasn't. It honestly wasn't. There was nothing she could have done without making a scene, and he knew that she respected Lanie and Esposito enough not to do that at their wedding. It wasn't as if they intended for this to happen. They had wanted it to be him and Kate up there. Collins was the one that messed it up.

No, he wasn't angry at her. Or even Lanie and Esposito for that matter. He was trying to get himself under control so he wouldn't get up and throttle Collins who was standing over with a group of his friends, receiving congratulatory slaps on the back for a job well done.

At that sight, Rick suddenly felt like a complete ass. He could only imagine how angry and embarrassed Kate was, having to sit there and not be able to do anything about the creepy stranger who was feeling her up in front of a crowd of people, a good majority of which she knew and saw every day at work.

Rick quickly spun around and met Kate's eyes, putting a gentle hand on her cheek, caressing her face reverently.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her earnestly, "I should have done something."

He watched as that somber, apologetic look faded from her eyes and a small smile began to form on her lips. Kate leaned towards him, her lips only inches away from his own when suddenly something crashed into their table.

Kate didn't jump, but Rick did. Startled, he pulled away from her to look and see who had just interrupted them. He nearly growled.

It was Collins.

Rick fixed a glare at the man that went unanswered, because Collins was staring unabashedly at Kate.

Rick felt himself sit up straighter.

"So," Collins said, dragging out the word longer than was necessary, "can I ask the pretty bride-to-be for a dance?"

Rick fixed his eyes on Kate's face, seeing the obviously fake smile on her face and he felt a sense of pride that he was one of the few who could not only tell which of her smiles were fake, but also that he was part of the elite group that got to see her real smiles.

"No thank you," she said politely, shaking her head, gesturing towards Rick, "I promised all of my dances to this one right here."

Rick smirked slightly at Collins, hoping he would get the hint and leave, but he didn't. Taking the liberty of sitting down, he pulled out the chair that was next to Kate and sat down, striking up a conversation about a younger Esposito that he really had no desire to listen to.

Rick couldn't help but let his thoughts drift back to the woman next to him. He had fought hard for her, helped her fight her battles even if she hadn't wanted him to. He stood next to her through the good and the bad. He was there for the tears she didn't want to show him and the smiles that were meant only for him to see.

She truly was extraordinary. For over a year, he had had the great pleasure of waking up to see her face first thing nearly every morning. She was just as passionate with him as she was in every other aspect of her life. She loved him. Her love was neither more nor less than the love that he felt for her. It was equal. They were equal and they completed each other in a way that Rick had only ever experienced when he wrote about that kind of love in his books.

Suddenly, the need to touch her was overwhelming because even if Collins or Mark or whatever the hell his name was couldn't see, he had to know she was his.

Still staring at Collins, pretending to be listening to their conversation, he moved his hand and put it on her thigh, just below the hem of her dress.

This wasn't new. He often felt the need to touch her. The feel of her skin underneath his fingertips sent bursts of energy straight through his nerve endings, lighting his fingertips on fire with feeling.

Kate didn't acknowledge his touch, and he didn't expect her to. She often didn't acknowledge his outright when they were around other people, but the fact that she let him touch her at all was enough for him.

That is, until he saw Collins reach out and move to brush some of her hair over her shoulder.

Without thinking, Rick wrapped his hand around the inside of her leg, squeezing her muscle gently as if he was trying to pull her closer.

She jumped slightly and Collins hand froze a few inches away from her skin before it dropped back down to his side.

_Interesting_.

He knew that Kate was responsive to his touch. Whenever they were together, she was always expressive with how much she loved the way he touched her. Even if _she_ didn't respond to his touches, her body always did. The way her skin warmed up under his fingertips. The way her skin puckered under his touch.

It was nothing short of breathtaking. There was nothing he liked more than seeing that he could still have such an effect on her.

Rubbing his thumb softly over the skin of her thigh absentmindedly, he watched Kate as she shifted from side to side, sitting up straighter and crossing her legs over his hand.

Rick couldn't decide if that was meant to still his movements on her skin or trap his hand between her thighs so he couldn't take it away. Regardless, he kept it there, relishing in the warmth, wiggling his fingers as much as he could when his hand was pressed between her thighs.

When she didn't put her hand on top of his or squeeze her legs tighter around his hand to stop him, his breath caught in his throat.

She wanted this. She wanted him to touch her the way only he had in over two years. Right then. While she was supposedly carrying on a conversation with the man who was so desperately hitting on her.

(It was almost laughable, really. Collins had no chance in hell with a woman like Kate. He wouldn't have any idea how to handle her. Hell, Rick was still learning how… and they had been dating for a year and a half).

Watching her out of the corner of his eye, he removed his hand from its place between her thighs (because it really did belong there) and moved it to the skin on the outside of her thigh. He used his nails and scratched lightly on her skin, watching as she tried desperately not to squirm in her seat.

Collins apparently noticed her struggle as well, because he paused in his story, speech, endless droning or whatever the hell he was saying and looked at Kate quizzically for a second before starting over.

Rick shifted so he was even closer to Kate. With his hand still underneath her dress, he nudged her foot with his, silently telling her to uncross her legs. She did, and settled for crossing her ankles instead. He led his fingers back across the top of her thigh, teasing the soft skin on the inside with his fingertips. With his index finger, he began to trace words onto the inside of her thighs.

_I want you_, he wrote, _I love you. You're mine_. _I love you_.

Kate took a deep breath and let it out, closing her eyes tightly before letting all the air out of her lungs in one shaky sigh.

"Are you alright?" he heard Collins ask, his voice sounding much clearer and stronger than it had a few moments ago.

Before Kate could respond, Rick lightly scratched a line down the muscles on the inside of her thigh, relishing in the way they clenched underneath his touch.

Only he could do this to her.

Slowly, he ran his fingers back up her leg, his fingers drumming a pattern against her skin that had her biting her lip.

"Mark," Kate said breathlessly, "I think you should go."

Rick inched his fingers even higher up her skirt, reaching a finger out and barely brushing the flimsy lace that he had been avoiding up until that point. Kate gasped quietly and then bit her lip harder, forcing herself to keep her back from arching off the chair as his finger gently traced a circle against the apex of her thighs.

Mark's eyes widened, confused by the way she was acting. He opened his mouth to protest, but Kate cut him off with a glare.

"Now," she said, her tone taking on a hard edge as Castle pressed harder against her center.

Collins put his hands up in surrender and began to walk away, mumbling something about her needing to relax before spinning on his heel, almost losing his balance in the process, and returning to his friends at the bar.

As Collins retreated, Rick also slowed his ministrations underneath Kate's dress, his touches becoming lighter. She whimpered slightly as he removed his fingers from her center and moved them down along her thighs. He watched as she put her head down covered her head with her hands, shaking her head from side to side slightly. Rick wasn't sure whether it was from frustration with him stopping or in relief that Collins was gone.

"I hate you," she mumbled, her voice stunted as she spoke into her hands.

Rick smirked, ever though she couldn't see it, and continued to move his hand down her thigh. When he got to the garter around her thigh, he hooked his finger around the band. Slowly, he pulled the offending article down, his nail lightly scratching her skin as he slid the lace to the curve of her knee, where it gracelessly fell to the floor around her heels.

Moving his hand back up, he put his palm flat against her skin, rubbing his hand up and down her skin at an unhurried pace, his fingers sliding under the hem of her dress again with no hesitation.

"You're such a tease," she muttered, trying to control her breathing, her face still hidden in her hands.

As gently as he could, Rick took his free hand and pulled her fingers away from her face, placing them in her lap before returning his hand to her neck. He leaned in and placed a lingering kiss on her warm cheekbone.

"I promise I'll take care of you later, love," his breath fanning out over her skin. She shivered against him, completely understanding his meaning, but he didn't move away from her. Instead, he moved his lips to her ear, nuzzling the spot below her earlobe with his nose before whispering in her ear.

"And then sometime in the near future," he said with a smile, his voice laced with hope and happiness that he was sure she could detect, "I'm going to marry you."

She shivered again, but before he could react, she had turned her face so her lips were pressed firmly against his. He quickly responded, and kissed her back just as tenderly.

Before he could get too lost in the feel of her lips, she pulled her lips away from his. She pressed her forehead against his, her eyes shining with love and emotion and he was sure that he had never seen someone so beautiful in his entire life.

"See," she said quietly. She quickly let out a puff of air, half laugh, half sob as she gave him a wide smile, "such a tease."

* * *

><p>Perhaps this is a little OOC on Kate's part? Does it matter? I just had Castle feel her up under the table...<p>

Also, the bridesmaids dresses... if you're interested: http:/ www . promgirl . com/ shop/ dresses/ viewitem - PD730034  
>(I'm having way too much fun looking up dresses for these one-shots...)<p>

As always, **love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think!**


	6. Snowstorms & Coffee Shops

MORE THINGS TO KNOW:  
>1. We had the first significant snow of the season on Saturday, YAY MID-ATLANTIC REGION.<br>2. This was inspired by that.  
>3. I went a little italics happy during this update, but whatever.<br>4. I like how this one turned out :)

* * *

><p>Snowstorms &amp; Coffee Shops<p>

* * *

><p>"Rick. It. Is. Freezing."<p>

As they walked along the nearly deserted New York City streets, the snow fell around them. Kate and Rick walked hand in hand down the sidewalk, the snow that had already formed a thin layer on the sidewalk crunching under their feet.

It was the first snow of the winter and Rick's eyes were shining like a little kid seeing the presents under the Christmas tree for the first time on Christmas morning. It was adorable, and Kate hated to be the one to ruin it, but she really was starting to question if her nose was still on her face or whether it had fallen off due to frostbite that was inflicted because of overexposure to the New York winter that it seemed only she was being subjected too.

Because unlike her sometimes nine-year-old boyfriend, when the rest of New York woke up that Saturday morning and saw that it was snowing, they did the smart thing and stayed inside.

Rick had woken up just over an hour ago and as soon as he had seen the snow falling outside of his window, he had woken Kate up and pulled her out of bed, pushing a half-asleep Kate towards the bathroom and telling her to ready to go outside.

He had been so excited that she hadn't questioned it. She walked into the bathroom, splashed some warm water on her face to scrub the sleep away, decided that her hair looked fine as it was, and brushed her teeth before walking back into their bedroom in time to see Rick pulling on a worn in pair of worn in ankle high, work boots. He stood up when he saw her and moved towards her, kissing her quickly before moving past her into the bathroom.

She had dressed quickly, throwing on some skinny jeans and a pair of her black leather boots. When Rick reemerged from the bathroom, looking far too awake, Kate had just finished sliding a plain purple sweater over her head. He had grabbed her hand, and led her out of the loft, stopping only at the coat closet in the hall and the bowl on the table by the door to grab his keys and his wallet.

Now, after walking outside in the snow for an hour, the snow falling more heavily than it had been when they left the loft, she was definitely questioning it.

Rick looked down at her, almost startled, her voice interrupting the thoughts that were undoubtedly weaving a story in his mind.

He took in her rosy cheeks and trembling chin, knowing that she was biting the inside of her cheek to keep her teeth from chattering. He quickly looked down at his watch, noticing that they had indeed been outside for more than an hour. She watched his eyes go unfocused for a moment, knowing that he was mentally checking over himself to see if he was cold.

"Huh," he said, clearly surprised, his eyes focusing on her again, "it is quite chilly."

"Chilly?" she deadpanned, her tone not nearly as dry as she wanted it to be due to her chattering teeth she couldn't control.

His eyes softened, and she knew he figured it out.

They were dressed in essentially the same thing, but Rick had a good 70 pounds on her. That added insulation made it "chilly" to him. They might as well have been in Canada for all Kate cared.

He squeezed her hand and turned them back around the direction they had come.

"Come on," Rick said, pulling her along, "This is clearly all my fault. Now it's my responsibility to warm you up."

Kate stopped on the sidewalk and let go of his hand as he continued to walk away.

Immediately feeling the loss of contact, Rick turned around and looked at her, all bundled up in her black pea coat and blue-green wool scarf Alexis had knit her for Christmas that year (Alexis said that the repetitive motion helped her concentrate on studying for her exams at Columbia). She could barely feel her cheeks so she knew they (along with her ears) were undoubtedly red from the cold, her hair falling over her shoulders, the white flecks of snow landing in it.

He looked the same.

His cheeks were red, his hair dotted with the same white flakes that were falling all around them. He hadn't shaved that morning before he saw the snow and dragged her outside, so his chin and neck were covered in the stubble that had formed over the previous day and you would never find her complaining about that. In his excitement to go out into the snow, he had stuck with a simple pair of blue jeans and a red flannel shirt that had been sitting at the front of his closet. She could see it peeking out of the sleeves of his own charcoal gray pea coat, that blue and black scarf she had always loved wrapped around his neck.

Seeing her stare and wondering why she had stopped, he tilted his head and smiled slightly at her, holding his hand back out to her for her to take again.

In response to his questioning smile, she furrowed her brow, cocking her head to the side and looking at him. Using the hand that he had been holding him, she pointed behind her.

"But home is _that_ way," she bit her lip, trying to hide her smile. "If you want to _warm me up_ shouldn't we go home?"

She let that sink in and watched as Rick slowly registered what she meant.

His eyes widened and Kate laughed grabbing his hand again and starting off on the course he had originally started on. He stumbled after her for a few steps before he found his rhythm beside her once again.

Using his grip on her hand, he pulled her closer against his side before wrapping his arm around her shoulder and leaning down, pressing his face against the side of hers.

"You're such a tease," he whispered, his hot breath warming her ear, his stubble tickling her jaw. She laughed again.

"But rest assured, love," he continued. "There will be plenty of time for _that_ later. But I'd prefer to get some feeling back in my fingers before I touch you." He gently took her earlobe in between his own teeth, teasing it for a moment before releasing it. She shivered, and she moved his face away from hers. She looked up at him and he was gazing down at her with an intensity that still managed to knock her off balance even after all the time she had known him. He met her gaze and smiled at her, the corner of his lips lifting upwards.

"I'll take care of those shivers the way I want to when we get home…" he said, looking up momentarily before turning her towards a building, his smile turning into a smirk. Rick opened the door and led her through it, her eyes still locked on his, "… but this will have to do for now."

Kate didn't even have to turn around to know where she was. The smell of coffee quickly assaulted her nose and she took a deep breath, closing her eyes momentarily and letting out a soft sigh. When she opened her eyes again, Rick was staring at her, amusement dancing in his eyes. She rolled her eyes in return, turning away from him as the two of them tried to brush off some of the snow that had fallen onto their jackets outside on the mat just inside the entrance.

He grabbed her hand again as they turned around and led them towards the counter.

The coffee house he had led them to looked like it was a little hole-in-the-wall shop, the menu written behind the empty counter on a chalkboard, the back wall lined with coffee mugs, all the same size but each varying in design and colors. The walls were a deep brown, except for the two on the sides which were covered with faded red brick. There was some art work placed on the walls, all featuring famous photographs or paintings of people drinking assorted hot beverages, and there were tables and chairs all over.

"Have you been here before?" Kate asked.

Rick shook his head, "No, I just saw it as we were walking by."

At the sound of voices, a woman, who Kate assumed was the owner, came out from a door on the other side of the counter, rubbing her hands together on a dish towel before throwing it over her shoulder. The woman gave Kate a small smile before turning towards Rick, who was staring at the menu behind the counter. Kate watched as the woman's eyes looked Rick up and down, nodding unconsciously before greeting them.

"Good morning," the woman said pleasantly, her attention focused solely on Rick. Kate bit the inside of her lip. "What can I get you?"

Rick looked down from the menu and gave the woman a small smile in return.

"Hi," he said politely, "Can we get a… regular coffee with 3 sugars and a…" Rick glanced down at Kate, who nodded towards him, telling him he could order for her. She hadn't even looked at the menu. He smiled before looking back towards the woman behind the counter, "… a regular French vanilla latte with skim milk?"

The woman nodded. "Would you like those for here or to go?"

Rick looked down at Kate, preparing to ask her what she wanted to do but she was still shaking slightly. He laughed under his breath, "for here."

The woman behind the counter smiled at him again, ringing up the cost while Rick fished his wallet out of his back pocket. He pulled out a ten and handed it over to the woman on the other side of the counter. When she handed him back his change, Kate saw that the woman extended her fingers so that they touched Rick's hand before pulling away slowly. Rick dropped the change in tip jar in front of the register, putting his wallet back in his pocket.

The woman cleared her throat, "Okay, if you'll take a seat I'll have those out to you in a couple of minutes."

Rick thanked her before placing a hand on Kate's back and leading them towards a table by the window.

She felt him hesitate for moment.

"Do you care where we sit?" He said, realizing that she might not want to sit there. He had already dragged her out into the freezing cold about 2 hours before they actually needed to get up. They could sit wherever she wanted.

She smiled up at him and kept on walking, "Not at all."

He smiled back and led her over towards the table he had originally picked out.

As they reached the table by the window, Rick pulled out Kate's chair for her before slipping into the one across from her, putting his elbows on the table and rubbing his hands together.

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, Rick looking back out the window and sneaking glances at Kate, Kate staring at her hands, thinking about the woman behind the counter.

She was pretty, Kate would give her that. She looked around Kate's age, her straight, strawberry blonde, hair tied back into a long, low, ponytail at the base of her skull. She had light brown eyes and was petite, perhaps four inches shorter than she was.

Kate decided she wasn't going to let it be a big deal. After all, it wasn't that woman behind the counter who got to wake up with him every morning. So what? The woman made eyes at her boyfriend. Kate is the only woman who Rick ever makes eyes at now.

"I'm glad we decided to stop," Rick said, interrupting her thoughts, "I think I can almost feel my ears again."

Kate smirked at him, "Well, if you hadn't completely zoned out on me back there, you might've realized you were cold half an hour ago."

He gave her a boyish smile, dropping his eyes down to his hands on the table, rubbing them together again.

"So," Kate continued, "is this something I should get used to?"

Rick glanced up at her, his expression clearly telling her that he had no idea what she was talking about.

Kate's smirk transformed into a smile.

"Are you going to wake me up early and force me to go on a walk with you every first snow of the season for the rest of our lives?"

Kate saw his smile blown across his face, happiness radiating out of him.

"The rest of _our_ lives," he murmured, still smiling, "I like the sound of that."

She opened her mouth to tell him that she liked it as well, but she was cut off by a mug sliding in front of her.

Kate leaned back, not even realizing that she had been leaning towards Rick, and gave the woman a small smile in thanks. However, the woman was (surprise!) not even looking at her. Kate watched as the strawberry blonde leaned over the table directly in front of Rick, putting a caddy of sugar and sweeteners on the other side of him, moving them up against the window.

Almost unconsciously, Kate reached out her foot under the small table and hooked it around Rick's ankle, dragging his foot slowly towards hers.

He raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything.

The woman behind the counter walked back towards the register, Kate assumed it was to bring back Rick's coffee, when Rick leaned in towards the table and whispered quickly, "What are you doing?"

Kate raised her own eyebrows in response, trying to look as innocent as possible, "I don't know what you're talking about, Rick." As she spoke though, she ran the toe of her boot up and down his calf.

Rick narrowed his eyes at her, "you know exactly what I'm talking about that."

Kate didn't have to respond because the woman came bustling back towards the table. Kate just smiled at him, rubbing her boot higher up his calf towards his knee, never breaking eye contact.

The woman slid Rick's coffee on the table in front of him, turning towards him and smiling.

"Be careful," the woman said to Rick, once again ignoring Kate completely, "it's hot."

Somehow managing to keep herself from knocking into the table, Kate extended her leg, placing the heel of her boot against the edge of his chair (suddenly incredibly grateful that Rick had pulled himself so close to the table), applying a slight pressure as her toe pressed down in between his legs.

Rick jumped immediately at the contact, his knee banging into the underside of the table, causing the entire tabletop to shudder. Kate took a sip of her latte to try and cover up her smile. She nearly grimaced at the taste, though.

That definitely wasn't skim milk.

The woman looked at him, obviously startled, "Are you okay?"

Rick nodded, his darkening gaze fixed intently on Kate. "Yes, I'm fine." He took a deep breath, his voice curt, "Thank you."

His tone clearly said that was the end of any conversation that they were going to have and it was time for the woman to leave. The woman straightened, clearly confused, a small frown making its way across her features while she tried to make one last attempt at having a conversation.

"If you need _anything_ at all," she said coyly, painting a smile on her face, "just let me know."

Rick gave the woman a pained smile and nodded before looking back at Kate, who had started pressing a little harder against his thigh.

The woman sighed, knowing that she didn't have a chance.

"I hope you don't mind me saying this," she said, her voice laced with fake admiration, "but you two make a lovely couple."

Kate turned to her and gave her a smile. To anyone but Rick it would seem genuine.

"Thank you," she said with the same false tone before turning back towards Rick and giving him a real smile.

The woman gave a curt nod and walked back behind the counter, disappearing through the doorway she had come out of earlier.

Rick let out the breath he was holding as soon as the woman was out of sight.

"Get over here."

Kate moved her foot back down to the floor, standing up slowly and walking around to the other side of the table. Rick slid back from the table and grabbed her hips as soon as she was within reach, bringing her down into his lap.

She shifted for a moment, trying to get comfortable before he groaned. Quickly wrapping his hand around the back of her neck, he twisted her and brought her mouth down hungrily against his. She kissed him back, sliding her tongue across his lips as his stubble tickled her chin. She brought her hands up towards the hair growing on his face and lightly scratched the skin with his nails. He moaned at the sensation, but he didn't allow her to deepen the kiss. Instead, he pulled his lips away from hers, digging his face into her hair, breathing deeply.

"You're evil."

She bit her lips to stop herself from smiling, moving her own face down to his ear and sucking his lobe into her mouth, knowing how it drove him crazy.

He groaned against her, his hands gripping tighter around her waist.

"Is this punishment?" he asked seriously, "for waking you up early and not giving you coffee before I nearly froze you out in the tundra of New York?"

Kate laughed against his ear but the sound was swallowed when he forced her face back to his, kissing her deeply once again.

After a few minutes, he let go of her, and pushed her hips away from his. She stood up, making sure that her knees were sturdy underneath her before making her way back over towards her side of the table, thinking that he would need a moment to get himself together before moving.

She hadn't expected him to stand up right after her. He straightened his jacket before grabbing her hand and leading her back out the door.

"Wait," she said, "don't you want your coffee?"

He shook his head and opened the door, leading her through it, the cold snow causing her to involuntarily freeze and step back towards the warmth. He was right behind her, though, wrapping his arm tightly around her shoulder again, turning her in the direction of the loft and quickly walking that way.

"No," he said answering her question, his voice rough. He looked down at Kate again, his eyes dark with desire. "I'm in need of an entirely different source of _heat_, and as I was informed earlier, the loft is the best place to warm up."

"But you don't seem cold, Rick," Kate teased, "I'm not cold anymore."

Kate didn't think it was possible, but she swore she saw Rick's eyes darken even more.

"That may be true right now, Kate. But I must inform you…" he said, walking faster towards the loft, "… I intend to make you _shiver_."

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><p>See what I mean about the italics?<br>Hope everyone is staying warm!  
>As always, <strong>love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think!<strong>


	7. Interrogation Rooms & Mirrors

1) I know this was supposed to be possessive!Rick. & I do have one of them in my mind, but this came out first.  
>2) I figured you'd rather have an update than a pattern. If I was wrong, I apologize.<br>3) Pun pun pun pun  
>4) You are all awesome. Seriously.<br>5) Hopefully fanfiction doesn't mess up like it has been and you can all read this and such.  
>6) Don't forget to head over to castleficawards(dot)com to vote for your favorite Castle fics of 2011!<p>

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><p>Interrogation Rooms &amp; Mirrors<p>

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><p>Rick had always loved being a part of interrogations. The first time he was involved in one, he was on the other side of the table as Beckett, outwardly cocky and nonchalant, but inside his head was spinning, fascinated by the fact that the woman across the table from him never once lost her control of the room, no matter what comment or look he threw at her.<p>

The feeling of sitting on the same side of the table with her was just as intoxicating. He knew her tricks, knew her methods that she used to get her suspects to crumble and give her what she wanted. Montgomery wasn't kidding when he said she was like a tiger in there. She was powerful. She demanded attention. She was in her element. And it was absolutely breathtaking.

(Looking back on it he thinks he started falling in love with her in the interrogation room all those years before. And while the rooms had been renovated and changed, she was a constant, and he only fell harder and deeper in love.)

Her voice brought him back to the present.

"So that, Ms. Carmichael, is why you shot your husband to death before walking up the stairs to your neighbor's apartment and shooting her too."

Lucy Carmichael just looked at the two of them before smiling sadly.

"Everything you've just said, Detective," the woman said condescendingly, "is conjecture. You have no proof."

A knock on the door interrupted them.

Kate stood up at the knock at the door, leaving Castle sitting across the table from the women they were positive killed her husband and the woman he was having an affair with out of jealousy, despite the fact that she had only been faithful to her husband for the first 6 months of their 4 and a half year marriage.

As soon as Kate stood up, the woman looked her up and down before looking back at Castle.

"Really? That's Nikki Heat?"

Rick sat still with his expression blank, staring at the woman in front of him. Clearly, he had a fan.

Already knowing the answer, the woman looked back at Kate who was talking to Esposito in the doorway, her back turned toward them. Then she leaned across the table towards Rick.

"I was expecting someone a little less… uptight, ya know?"

All Rick did was raise an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly.

Ever since he and Kate had officially gotten together just over 7 months ago, his protective instinct had gone into overdrive. While the comments and slurs people had made about her had bothered him before, now that they were together they made him see red. The first time he nearly assaulted a suspect because he tried to grab Kate as they were leaving an interrogation, Kate kicked him out of the precinct for nearly a week, telling him he needed to calm down.

He had tried to tone it down. He hadn't punched anyone in the face yet. That counts, right?

The woman smirked, drumming her fingers on the table in front of her.

"And you're together?" the woman didn't waste a second to wait for his answer, "You must like being on a tight leash. Tell me, Mr. Castle," she said, her tongue coming out between her teeth, "Do you _come_ when she tells you to?"

His fists clenched underneath the table, but he still didn't respond. He heard the door to the interrogation room shut and the sound of her heels making their way back towards him.

"You know," the woman continued, "once I get out of here, I bet I could show you a much better time."

When Kate slammed the folder down on the table, he knew she had heard everything. He leaned back in his chair. An angry Castle had absolutely _nothing_ on a pissed off Beckett.

"Fortunately for him, Ms. Carmichael," Kate said, her tone instantly making Lucy Carmichael lean back in her chair, "it seems that's not going to happen anytime soon."

Kate opened her folder, placing the ballistics report in front of their suspect.

"Ballistics just came back. The bullets that were used to kill your husband and his mistress were a match for the gun that had your fingerprints all over it." Kate pulled out another piece of paper and placed it next to the ballistics report on the table, "the same gun you bought from a hunting supplies shop three days ago using your American Express card."

Lucy Carmichael pursed her lips, looking at both of the documents in front of her before looking at Beckett.

"I'd like to speak to my attorney now."

Kate stood up and motioned towards the mirror for the people standing behind it to come and get their suspect. Two uniforms walked in moments later, Ryan and Esposito trailing behind them. Castle gathered the papers up off the table as the uniforms handcuffed Lucy Carmichael, leading her out of the room as he put the reports back in the appropriate file. He walked over to where Ryan, Esposito, and Beckett were talking, handing the case file to Beckett who immediately handed it off to Ryan.

Hm, that's odd. Usually she handles the case files.

"… take her down to booking until her attorney gets here," Kate said, "When they do, make sure they know what the evidence is against her and she has no information that we want, so we're not interested in cutting deals. We'll tell Gates what happened when she comes back from vacation on Monday."

The boys nodded and left the interrogation room, heading off in the general direction of their suspect.

Castle began walking after them, but something pulled against his wrist. Hard.

Kate had wrapped her fingers around his joint, cuffing him with her hand, giving him a steely look.

He froze at her expression and moved back towards her gingerly.

"What's wrong?" He said, his voice low.

She just kept staring at him, and he shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

A moment passed before Kate began to walk to the door, her fingers still locket tightly around his wrist. He thought she was going to lead him out of the interrogation room, but she surprised him, closing the door with a harsh click.

As soon as it was closed, she shut the blinds on the window, shielding them from the rest of the precinct. She turned them around and marched him back over towards the large mirror on the wall that connected them to the observation room before stopping them in front of it abruptly.

"If there is anyone behind this mirror," she said, her voice dangerously low, "I suggest you leave."

They quickly heard the sound of feet shuffling behind the wall, clearly sensing the threat in her voice. They heard the door open and close quickly, and the distinct sound of someone locking it behind them, keeping anyone from coming in after they left.

Kate didn't say anything for a few moments, no doubt listening for the tell-tale signs of someone moving behind the mirror. When she was seemingly satisfied, she stood up a little bit straighter. He shifted his eyes and looked at her, waiting for her to speak.

"Why is it so hard," she started, looking at their reflections in the mirror, "for people to believe that we're together?"

Sometimes he forgot that she was only human. She's always so strong and confident with her job that it often slipped his mind that she wasn't impervious to the derogatory comments or personal attacks.

He also knew it was a rhetorical question. Her tone was something he hadn't ever heard from her. A mixture of desire and anger and hurt and… was that, mischief?

He met her gaze in the mirror.

She looked dangerous, her eyes dark and focused on his. Her heels nearly brought her to his height, not a single hair out of place in the cascade of brown curls. Her jaw was clenched and so were her fists by her side.

He swallowed hard.

Kate took that as a sign to continue.

"So what if I'm just a cop…" he opened his mouth to tell her that she was so much more than just a cop, but he didn't get the chance, "… and you're a famous writer."

She cocked her head to the side and looked at their reflection.

"… I think we look pretty good together. Don't you?"

Of course he did. He never looked better than when she was standing by his side. He was an attractive guy, and she was a goddess in blazers and power heels. She had the ability to make anyone standing next to her look like a celebrity. After all, you have to be something special to capture the attention of Detective Kate Beckett. And to be given the opportunity to be hers? Well, you my friend should immediately go buy a lottery ticket because you're one lucky son of a –

"And why am I always going to be the bad one?" she said, her eyes still locked on the mirror. Another rhetorical question, yet he felt his throat start to close up. Slowly, she moved her hand up from her side and wrapped her fingers around his, holding them up between them before slipping her fingers away and dragging them down the length of his arm, the touch burning through the sleeve of his dress shirt as she made her way past his elbow and up around his bicep to his shoulder. For the first time since she moved him over towards the mirror, she looked away from it. He watched unblinkingly as she shifted from his side, letting her hand trail across his back to his opposite shoulder, settling herself behind him. Her hands wrapped around his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin slightly. He felt her lips press themselves against the back of his, placing a tender, wet, kiss, there. She exhaled against the place where her lips had just been, and he shuddered faintly.

"Why am I the one who is using you?" he heard her whisper.

He hadn't realized his eyes had fallen shut until he felt teeth scratch against the hollow under his ear. His eyes snapped open immediately finding her staring at him, her tongue darting out and just barely touching his ear lobe. He placed his hands on the mirror, trying to keep his knees from falling out from under him. She _knew_ exactly what that did to him. The first time she had done it they nearly set the loft on fire by burning dinner, and he didn't think he was ever going to be able to look at the stools in his kitchen the same way again.

He refocused on her when he saw her reflection smirk at him, nuzzling her nose against his ear.

"For all they know…" she started, her voice low and seductive, "… _you_ could be the one using _me_."

Her teeth sank into his earlobe and he bit his lip.

"Using you for what?" he managed to choke out, his voice almost embarrassingly rough.

She just smirked again, running her hands over his shoulder.

"A reason to come to the precinct, the thrill of going on takedowns and interrogations, research for your books…" she paused, and he felt her press her entire body up against his back. He could hear the smirk in her voice, "… my body."

With that he dropped his head forward so it was leaning against the mirror, his mind conjuring up images of all the ways he wanted to _use _her body right then.

He felt Kate settle her chin against his shoulder, her hands moving from his back to wrap around his torso. He lifted his head away from the reflective surface, looking at her with dark eyes.

He watched her face go from mischievous to innocent in a second, her fingers moving to tease the buttons of his shirt.

"Why am I always the frigid bitch?" she said, pouting, popping a button out of its hole with one hand and then putting it back in over and over again, as she looked at him.

"You don't think I'm frigid, do you?"

Oh, she was good. She knew she wasn't. And she knew that he knew she was teasing him. But she had him right where she wanted him. In the current state he was in? She could tell him to kill off Nikki Heat and he would do it. Oh, he would do anything to end the delicious torture of her breath against his ear, her fingertips teasing the skin of his chest while she played with his shirt.

Still, he opened his mouth to respond, and his words died on his tongue as she removed himself from his back, spinning around in his arms and squeezing into the miniscule space between him and the mirror. She tilted her head up, immediately peppering his jaw with feather-light kisses. His jaw clenched in response, his hands bunching up into fists against the mirror.

If he gave in and touched her now, he would surely end up doing something that would get him kicked out of the precinct.

It would be worth it - oh god it would be so worth it, but he didn't want to take that chance.

"Do you remember that one time," she murmured against his jawline, "when you came back from California?"

He nodded, tersely. How could he forget? It was nearly midnight and he had just returned from a publicity tour for the second Nikki Heat movie. Rick wanted nothing more than to go curl up in bed next to Kate (he had only been gone for a week and he missed her terribly) and sleep for a few hours before waking her up and celebrating his homecoming. He locked the front door behind him and dragged his suitcase into his office, immediately freezing and dropping his suitcase by his feet, the dull thud echoing in the otherwise empty loft. Kate was sitting in his chair, her feet propped up on his desk, his newest novel resting on her lap.

Wearing nothing but a smile.

(So the order got a little messed up. It had totally been worth it.)

"Or when I called in sick that day and we spent the _entire_ day in our bed."

He gulped. Yet another one of the memories made with her that had been irrevocably burned into his mind. He thought she had been joking when she told him that she called out sick, playing hooky from her detective duties to spend the day with him. She told him she didn't plan on leaving their bed unless it was absolutely necessary. She wasn't kidding. The first time he tried to stand up the next day, he fell back onto the bed, his body still deliciously boneless after a day spent making love to Kate.

Her voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"I love that you have these reactions because of me," she said, linking a finger through his belt loop and bringing his hips into hers. "Has anyone else ever done this to you?"

He shook his head, his eyes locking with hers, the words finally tumbling out of his mouth.

"No," he choked, "no one but you."

And it was true. No one ever had such power over him. Things had been passionate and quick with Kyra, exciting and fun with Meredith, and more subdued and mature with Gina. Being with Kate was all of that combined and more. They could do slow and explorative, losing themselves in each other and the sheets of their bed, or they could do hard and fast against the front door, or his desk, or the elevator at the precinct when no one else was there (_another_ time he wouldn't forget soon) with their pants around their ankles. It was never selfish with the two of them. It was always deep, it was always meaningful, and most importantly, the underlying current was always love.

She smiled at him, that brilliant smile that always took his breath away before her eyes turned serious.

"Nobody else."

It wasn't a question, it was a fact. She was telling him that there would be no one else. Not while he was with her. There would be no after her because she was it.

He pursed his lips together almost painfully, nodding quickly.

If there was one thing that Rick has learned after dating Kate, it was that you don't choose Kate Beckett. She chooses you. And when she chooses you, you better hold on as tight as you can, because the journey is full of mountains and valleys with rivers to cross and walls to knock down. He'd seen the mangled corpses of relationships along the way, men who gave up on her or she had abandoned along the way. But he was determined to be there until the very end. The promised view at the end of their journey was too beautiful to pass up.

He leaned forward without thinking, resting his forehead against hers, his nose pressed against her nose.

"I'm yours," he said, taking in the size of her pupils, "all yours."

Before he knew what was happening, his back was pressed flat against the mirror, the reflective surface vibrating angrily underneath him and she was everywhere.

He could feel every inch of her body deliciously pressed against his. She immediately latched her lips onto neck, pushing his collar out of the way with her nose before he felt her sink her teeth into the skin above his collar bone, sucking on it and then soothing the space with her tongue.

He groaned and reached out his hands to touch her, but she caught him, her hands fisting around his, moving them back towards the mirror and holding them there. He involuntarily bucked his hips against hers as her teeth scratched against his neck again. At his reaction, she pulled her lips away from his neck, resting her head against his chest. Rick fought to get his heartbeat back under control. She let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around his back. He wrapped his own arms around her waist, hugging her against his chest, his cheek coming to rest on her hair.

They stood there for a moment, both of them just content to breathe in the other. Eventually though, Kate remembered that they were still at work, and she was still on the clock, so she pulled herself away from him. Straightening the collar of his shirt, she walked over towards the door, reopening the blinds. She put her hand on the doorknob turning back to look at him. When she saw he was still leaning against the mirror, running a hand through his hair, her questioning gaze turned into a smirk.

"Come here, boy," she said, her smirk turning into a small smile as she saw the reference register in his eyes.

Rick was infinitely relieved that she seemed to be taking what their suspect said in stride, already making jokes about it, even if they were at his expense. He knew that she was just joking around. He played along, willing to do anything to make her smile, walking over to her quickly. When he reached her side, he pouted, telling her that he didn't like that they had to leave.

"Aw," she said, laughing at his expression, "don't be sad, boy." She ran her fingers across his cheek before reaching out and tugging on his ear lightly, her smile turning mischievous again, "if you're a good boy for the next few hours, I'll make sure to give you an extra special _treat_ when we get home."

He swallowed involuntarily.

Kate threw her head back and laughed, giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek before finally opening the door to the interrogation room and walking back over towards her desk to start to take down their murder board.

He paused for only a moment before he followed.

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><p>As always... <strong>Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think!<strong>


	8. Valentine's Day & Arrows

1) Nobody likes my humor  
>2) I know I'm an hour and half late for Valentine's Day. I had a really rough night (which surprisingly had nothing to do with Valentine's Day)<br>3) That's why this is a little late. Cut me some slack.  
>4) I thought I caught all my mistakes, but I probably didn't.<p>

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><p>Valentine's Day &amp; Arrows<p>

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><p>He wasn't sure why he thought this was going to be a good idea.<p>

He had wanted to do something really special for her on Valentine's Day. She deserved a day that was as remarkable and memorable as she was. Anybody could take her out to dinner and then back to their place to continue the night. She could go out and buy a skimpy dress with his credit card every day of the week if she wanted to and he would take her out every night if she asked.

No, none of that was good enough for her.

Rick wasn't sure that anybody had ever gone above and beyond to make sure she had a Valentine's Day she would never forget. He knew at least with Josh, they had both been working and he took her out to dinner once they were both off shift (but still not before Kate had spent time with _him _first, willing to forgo the extra time to make herself look fantastic for her then-boyfriend in order to comfort him when he needed it most) but he didn't think that was special enough. He didn't need one day to romance her. He wanted to take her to do something she's never done before. He wanted her to be excited at the prospect of doing something new with him. He wanted her to have fun and laugh and smile.

That's really what he wanted for Valentine's Day. Lots and lots of Kate Beckett's smiles.

The first idea he thought of was to cook for her at home, but he quickly decided against it. He did that basically every night she came home with him. He thought about taking her ice skating but then he remembered that he was a terrible skater. He wanted her to have fun, not have to worry about keeping his sorry ass from falling down on the ice and it was still too cold to take her up to the Hamptons for a getaway. Besides, Valentine's Day was on a Tuesday. He'd never convince her to take time off.

Rick tried to think back to everything she had ever mentioned that she wanted to do. He had once told Montgomery that the best thing to buy a woman was something she said she wanted when she didn't think you were listening. He had spent a good half an hour pacing around his office trying to think of something to do when it suddenly hit him. He flew to his computer and did some internet searching. When he found what he was looking for, he quickly reserved a spot for the two of them.

He wasn't sure she even remembered saying it or if it was even a serious suggestion. All he knew is that she said it, and it was different, and he knew that no one else would have ever thought to take her there. And even if she wasn't serious about what she said, he knew she would be touched that he remembered.

Rick had walked in the precinct the next morning with a huge grin on his face. When he placed her normal coffee order in front of her, she had looked up at him to say thanks only to have suspicion cloud her features.

She asked him what was going on and he had a hard time trying to keep his excitement under control. He told her that he was taking her out for Valentine's Day and she had no choice. She had messed with him, pulling out her cell phone and sighing, saying that now she had to call and cancel her date with her other boyfriend, and he had to fight the urge to kiss her in the precinct because even though the joke was far from funny she was smiling that smile that she saved only for him. He plucked the phone from her fingers and slid it back into her jacket pocket, telling her that he would pick her up after work at 5:30, and she should dress casually. She had quirked her eyebrow at him, clearly expecting him to wine and dine her and have her look fantastic while doing it. But in the end she just shook her head at him with a smile on her face and went back to work.

That was three days ago.

When he had picked her up at exactly 5:30, he had brought her a dozen long-stemmed roses (what? It _was_ Valentine's Day) and he put them in water for her as she grabbed her coat. She grabbed his hand as she walked out the door, locking it behind them and heading towards the elevator. She asked him once where they were going as they climbed into his car, but he just told her it was a surprise. Surprisingly, she let it go, and he pulled away from her apartment building to begin the trek out of the city. The closer they got to their destination, the more his excitement bubbled to the surface.

She knew how to shoot a gun, and he knew that she could spar and defend herself if need be, but this was different. It was something that she would be able to do in the city.

When they pulled onto the long road that led to their destination, he had her blindfold herself. She shook her head but appeased him, joking that people knew that she was with them so he would be caught quickly if he killed her. He laughed with her, but didn't respond, instead waiting for her to put her blindfold on and continuing down the drive.

A few moments later he put the car in park before getting out and then proceeding to help her out of the passenger side. He stood her in front of him and took of her blindfold. She took only a few moments to process the sign in front of them. When she did, she barked out a laugh before spinning around and throwing her arms around his neck.

She had said it in passing during a case during Valentine's Day with a serial killer who had a penchant for killing women who looked like his ex-girlfriend by shooting them with arrows in the heart.

"_I always wanted to do Archery as a kid," _she told him, _"Mom was afraid that if she let me, I'd accidentally kill something."_

He had led her into the building towards the indoor archery range that he had rented out just for them, they were met by their instructor who introduced himself as Jake.

He was decent looking, Castle would give him that. Maybe a few years younger than he was, he still had a full head of hair (from what he could see under the baseball hat he was wearing) and a nice set of arms (from years of archery no doubt). He claimed he was an expert and quickly took them through all of the safety instructions before running off to get them equipment that would work for the two of them.

Jake returned a few minutes later, two quivers of arrows and two bows. He handed the bigger bow and a quiver to Rick before turning to Kate, offering her the bow with one hand and sliding the quiver over her head and adjusting it over her shoulder for her.

Rick felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. He probably would've acted on it if Kate didn't look at him when Jake had turned around and rolled her eyes.

Instead he had to fight a smile. _That's my girl_.

Jake jogged back over towards the closet filled with gear and picked his own stuff before returning towards the two of them.

He quickly gave them a rundown of the proper technique to shooting an arrow properly. Well, Rick assumed it was for the both of them, but their instructor was obviously only talking to Kate. She listened, seemingly oblivious to the attention. Jake then moved around behind Kate, speaking softly to her and running his hands along her arms, trying to help her get into the proper stance. Rick saw Kate tense at what he was doing and Rick had to fight the urge to shoot him, because this guy's audacity was surely big enough to hit from a mile away.

Seriously? This guy was hitting on her? When she came here with someone else? On _Valentine's Day_?

Kate took a couple of practice shots at her target tacked onto oversized bales of hay, trying to get her center and get the hang of what was going on while the two men in the room watched on.

Jake had clapped for her, telling her that she had impressed him, but when Kate looked back towards the target Rick saw that Jake was clearly impressed by other parts of her much more than her archery skills.

Rick grit his teeth.

He watched Kate set her shoulders, exhaling deeply before bringing the bare bow up in front of her, pulling back the bowstring and focusing on the target. Her long-sleeved thermal rode up slightly over her hips but she clearly didn't seem to mind. Without thinking, he quickly reached out with the tips of his fingers and ran his fingers over the exposed skin of her back before grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it down.

She yelped in surprise and let go of the bow string, send the arrow flying about 10 feet to the left, into the empty lane next to them.

Jake looked over at her, the concern clear on his face.

Kate tried to keep herself from blushing, lowering her head slightly.

"Sorry," she said softly, "my fingers slipped."

Jake nodded, obviously buying her story. He smiled at her.

"Well, it happens. I'll go get your arrows for you."

Kate nodded and handed Jake her quiver. Jake left them, walking over towards the bales of hay on the other side of the room, moving to collect the few arrows on the ground.

Kate quickly spun around to face him.

"What was that?" she whispered, trying to keep her voice calm.

Rick couldn't help it. He smiled.

"My dear, it seems your form could use some work."

She lifted her chin indignantly, "My _form_ is fine thank you very much. You distracted me."

His smile grew as he looked her up and down, "Oh, you know how much I love to distract you. Especially when it comes to your form, which is much more than fine let me tell you."

She pursed her lips, and ducked her head again, trying to hide her eyes from him, the telltale sign that she took that comment exactly how he was hoping she would.

He was by her side in a few quick steps, putting his hands on her hips and turning her around.

"Here," he whispered, his lips against her ear as he pulled her hips against his, "let me help you."

"I don't need your help," she said, though she didn't move away from him.

"But I want to help," he countered, "now let me."

He put his foot in between her legs and nudged her boots with the toe of his own shoe, pushing them out so she was standing shoulder-width apart, her head resting below his chin.

"Feet shoulder-width apart," he said softly, his hands pulling her hips back into his again. He felt her tense slightly before relaxing back into him.

He moved his hands from her hips up her ribs to her shoulders, trying not to smirk at the shiver her felt her trying to suppress.

He ran his hands around her shoulder blades, gripping them and pulling them back against his chest.

"Shoulders back," he murmured.

He moved his hands again to run them back over her shoulders, splaying his hands wide across her back, his thumbs on either side of her spine. Slowly, he slid his hands down her back, applying pressure towards the base of her spine. He momentarily ignored the way her back arched into him, instead saying with a smirk, "back straight."

He looked up briefly and saw that Jake was still picking up her arrows, his back turned towards the two of them. Rick placed a kiss on the side of her neck, taking his hands from her back and grabbing an arrow from his still-full quiver and brought it in front of them. He encased her hands in her own and positioned the bow in front of her. He looked over again and saw Jake had moved to the back of the room, grabbing a drink from his water bottle or something.

Rick moved his attention back to the woman standing in front of him and took a deep breath. He leaned his head over her shoulder and nudged her chin with his nose.

"Chin up."

Then he placed his cheek against hers and he felt her closer to him and he almost forgot what he was doing. He took a deep breath, hoping that his voice sounded stronger than he felt, "Eyes straight ahead."

He pulled back their hands that held the bowstring so it was taught.

"Take a deep breath," he said, his voice barely audible.

She inhaled deeply and he breathed in time with her, releasing their hold on the arrow.

The two of them watched as the arrow quickly sliced through the air, moving straight ahead. They two of them watched as the arrow came in contact with the target, sticking straight out from the middle of it.

He dropped their arms down to their sides and she looked back at him, her eyes dark.

He smiled at her.

"Bulls-eye."

Somewhere in his mind he vaguely registered the sound of footsteps moving towards them and the sound of a bow hitting the ground. But what did any of that matter?

Rick quickly spun her around in his arms and pulled her hips closer to his. Her arms immediately tried to wrap around his neck, but the quiver over his shoulder got in the way. She growled against his lips, clearly not a fan of the situation, and quickly changed her course of action. She lifted her hands to his face and tilted it to the side, immediately pushing her tongue past his lips and into his mouth. He groaned and tried to pull her hips even further into his. His hands gripped tighter around her waist, preparing to lift her up so she could wrap herself around him.

When he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind Kate, Rick finally remembered where they were. He pulled his lips from hers slowly, savoring the taste of her on his lips before looking over her shoulder at Jake. Kate, on the other hand, didn't even bother to turn around. She only burrowed herself further into his chest, wrapping herself around his side.

Jake had tried to look appropriately abashed at having been watching the two of them, but Rick could tell by the tension in his shoulders and the clench of his jaw that he was clearly not amused by what he had just seen. But really? What did he expect?

Not being able to help himself, Rick smiled at Jake.

"Isn't she something?" Rick said, before leaning down and pressing a tender kiss against her forehead. "I am one lucky guy."

He felt Kate shake slightly against his side and knew that she was trying to control her laughter.

Jake shrugged and glanced at the target.

"Well," he said, clearly trying to sound unaffected, "It looks like you've got the hang of things. I'll be in the office…" he pointed to a small room off to the side with a large window facing the range, "… doing some paperwork. If you need anything else, let me know."

He watched as he walked away from them before pulling away from Kate slightly.

"So did you learn to shoot arrows from Cupid? Because you've clearly hit my heart."

"That was so cheesy," she said, scrunching up her nose at him.

"Well it is Valentine's Day…"

She laughed, "I guess it is." She pursed her lips momentarily, "I'll allow it."

Rick laughed before nodding, letting the silence settle around them for a moment.

"That really was a beautiful shot," he said thoughtfully, looking at the target on the other end.

Kate scoffed, clearly amused that their bulls-eye was what he chose to focus on.

Rick looked at her, feigning hurt, "What? It's true!" he slipped a finger through one of her belt loops, "we make a great team."

She leaned up and kissed him with a smile before pulling away from him.

"Great team or not," she said teasingly, "I bet I can get more arrows to hit that target than you can."

He raised an eyebrow at her, "My dear, did you just issue me a challenge?"

She pulled away from him and went to go pick up her now full quiver of arrows before turning back to him, smirking at him.

"Oh," he said, picking up his own bow again, "You are so on."

They stood at their respective lanes and stood in the ready stance.

"So what are we playing for Detective? Pride? Money? Or clothing?"

Kate looked back over her shoulder and smirked at him.

"Why not all three?"

Rick swallowed, and Kate barked out a laugh. She pulled an arrow from over her shoulder and put it into position on her bow. He mimicked her.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Set?" he said.

"Go!"

* * *

><p>I know nothing about archery except that I really want to try it.<br>And I thought it was kind of cute because Stana loves it.  
>Anyway... <strong>Love it? Hate it? I'd really love to know what you think.<strong>


	9. Date Nights & Canvas

1) I'm spoiling you.  
>2) The Valentine's day update was either going to be this date or Archery. Archery won, but I couldn't get this out of my head.<br>3) This one's… a little different.

* * *

><p>Date Nights &amp; Canvas<p>

* * *

><p>It was her turn to plan date night.<p>

Since her hours were so sporadic, the two of them tried their hardest to make sure that they had at least one date night a month where they actually went out on a real date and did things normal couples did. When Rick first mentioned it, Kate had teased him mercilessly, telling him that he was so the girl in their relationship. He took it all in stride however and didn't back down, so she agreed to it.

Now, she looked forward to their date nights more than anything else.

So far, Rick had taken her out to a nice restaurant (with a mandatory new dress and shoes), took her ice-skating (he was terrible), took her to an old black-and-white movie at the Angelika (_We'll always have Paris…)_, a Yankees game (they lost to the Phillies) and indoor go-karting (she didn't even know there was any place to do that around the city).

When he had told her after dinner at the loft with Martha and Alexis (who had come home from college for the weekend) that he thought it was time for another date night, she had caught him completely off guard when she asked if she could take him out this time. He had asked her why and she just shrugged her shoulders and while he knew there was more to it, he agreed. She had to fight him when she said that she would pay for everything, but eventually she won that battle as well.

_Let me romance you_, she had said_, then I'll take you home and you can invite me up for coffee and then I'll have my wicked way with you_.

The whole point of these date nights were so they could spend time together outside of work. In reality, Kate knew another hidden agenda was Rick's desire to make her have more fun. And she truly was having fun. Now she wanted to prove that she could plan something fun for the two of them.

Of course, that led to a completely new thing to worry about. She wanted to do something with him that she didn't think he had ever done before.

It took her a week before she finally came up with an idea, after passing the place on a whim and stopping in. She stood in the lobby for a few minutes to speak to the teenager behind the counter, who then introduced her to the woman who owned the place. She looked at some of what the woman had done and immediately knew that Rick would love it here. He had been complaining recently that the he had felt a little "artistically stifled" (he refused to call it writer's block) and she had a feeling that this would help. She talked to the woman about bringing him in and they picked a day it would work for both of them and Kate paid for their session in advance.

Two weeks later, she was on her way to pick him up for their date. When he opened up the front door, she immediately handed him a pair of white pants and a white t-shirt and told him to go change out of his dress shirt and slacks. He had raised an eyebrow, but did as she told him after he saw that she herself was dressed in all white as well. He asked her about shoes and she said it didn't matter and in a few minutes they were down in her car, driving the short distance to their destination.

On the outside, the building looked completely inconspicuous. She grabbed his hand as he met her on the other side of the car after she parked and immediately walked them into the building.

The walls on the inside of the art studio were completely white, except for a few paintings and posters that adorned the walls. She walked purposefully towards the desk that sat directly in the middle of the room, greeting the same teenager that she had seen a few weeks before and checking in. The girl walked out the door through an archway and returned a few moments later with Sunshine, the woman who owned the studio, in tow.

"Hello again, Katherine!" she said, flinging her arms open wide in front of Kate, "I'm so glad you're here."

Sunshine was… something else. If it weren't for the fact that she was Kate's age, you'd think that she was a flower child from the 70s (though, with a name like Sunshine, she clearly was a _product_ of the decade). She had long hair well past her waist, running down to her back in dirty blonde waves. She was dressed in all black (she had told Kate that she and Rick needed to wear all white) and she was barefoot, long feather earrings dangling from her ears.

"And you must be Richard!" Sunshine said loudly, clapping her hands together (Sunshine also didn't like nicknames). Before either could register what happened, Sunshine moved over to Rick and placed a loud kiss on his cheek. He startled slightly and only relaxed when she pulled away, but Sunshine quickly insinuated herself in between them and grabbed each of them, Rick by the hand and Kate by the wrist, leading them into the room that she had just come from. Rick looked over Sunshine's head at Kate and gave her a questioning smile, and she smiled in return, hoping that it looked encouraging.

In all honesty, she was slightly worried too. Sunshine was a little more… hands on than Kate expected her to be.

They went through the archway and into the other room, another one with stark white walls and hardwood floors, the only difference from the other room being the lack of a desk and the station that was set up between the two windows in the room.

"So Richard…" Sunshine said as she finally let go of them and moving to stand in front of them once again "…Katherine tells me you're a writer."

Rick smiled at Kate, wondering just how much she revealed to this woman.

"On my better days," he said, all the while still smiling.

Sunshine threw her head back and laughed, reaching out and putting her hand on his forearm.

"Katherine tells me that you've been struggling recently?"

Rick quickly looked over at Kate, the annoyance clear on his face. Kate lifted her hands up in surrender, and gave him a small smile. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He knew she wouldn't bring it up unless she thought she could help him. He forced a small smile on his face.

"The past few weeks haven't been my better days."

Sunshine laughed again and Kate pursed her lips.

"Well Richard," Sunshine said, placing a hand on his chest, "I believe that this will help." She pointed towards the canvas. "I want you to paint something you feel," Sunshine said, looking directly at Castle, "Something that makes you feel… _passionate_ and… _wild._"

Rick nodded his head, trying to bite back a laugh at how ridiculous she sounded. He looked at the trays full of different color paints on the side of both the four foot square white canvas hanging on in front of them on the wall.

"I think I can handle that," Rick said, smiling at Kate, "where are the brushes?"

Kate smiled as Sunshine answered.

"_You _are the brush, Richard."

Rick looked at Kate and his entire face lit up.

She brought him on a date that is essentially finger painting for adults.

She really did know him too well.

He watched as she leaned over in her white tank top and white skinny jeans and pulled off her shoes and socks. She looked up at Rick, smiling as she quickly pulled her hair up into a ponytail. He followed suit, taking off his shoes and shoving his socks inside of them. He picked hers up and tossed both pairs over to the side of the room away from the tarp covered floor and canvas and grabbed her hand, moving her over closer towards the wall.

"Just let it all out," Sunshine said, looking at the two of them from a few feet away from them.

Castle stood in front of the canvas for a moment, a fist placed against his lips. Kate could see his mind going a mile a minute, his eyes darting across the canvas, clearly trying to plan out what he wanted to do just like he would with one of his stories. It was fascinating to watch.

But that's not what they were here for.

Without giving herself time to change her mind, she reached out and dipped her finger into the closest tub of paint, which just so happened to be yellow, and swiped a curved line near the center of the canvas.

He looked at her and she calmly answered the question in his eyes.

"We'll make it work."

Rick smiled at her and dipped his hand into a different tin of paint, this one green, and painted a slightly thicker line on the underneath her yellow one.

"We always do," he said with a smile.

They worked side by side for probably half an hour, moving around each other, caking their fingers and palms with different color paint and transferring it onto the canvas with an ease that seemed habitual.

Well, at least most of the paint ended up on the canvas. Kate quickly realized why Sunshine had told them to wear all white. Kate had multicolored splotches of paint all over her clothes, and most of them not accidental. And Rick wasn't any better. Whenever they thought the other wasn't paying attention, they would lean over and swipe their fingers across the other, leaving trails of color in their wake.

And most of the paint didn't even land on their clothes. Rick was sporting some fierce light blue and red tiger stripes on his arm and Kate had some dangerous looking purple war paint on her cheeks.

She was having fun, and if his smile was any indication, he was having a good time, too. He began to attack the canvas with a fervor that told Kate that he had found the image in his mind and he was going for it. He had the story of the painting in his head and he knew how to get to the ending.

Her smile grew. It felt nice being able to help him once and a while when he had helped her so much.

"It looks good, you two…" Sunshine said, interrupting Kate's thoughts. Rick smiled down at Kate and Sunshine continued, "… but it seems like something's… _missing_."

Kate and Rick's smiles turned to frowns.

"It's pretty," Sunshine said moving towards Rick, "but where's the _passion_? Where's the _excitement_?"

Sunshine slowly ran her hands up and down Rick's back before leaning into his ear, "It's missing a certain… _touch."_

Sunshine wanted touch? Oh, she'd give her touch.

As soon as the woman had backed away enough, Kate dipped her hand into the dish of light purple paint off to the side before reaching out and putting her hand over his back pocket and squeezing his ass. He jumped and yelped. When he looked behind him and saw the bright purple on his pants, he smirked at her. Dipping both of his hands into some of the blue paint by his side, he lunged towards her, quickly wrapping his arms around her and immediately placing his paint covered hands on her ass, pulling her closer to him. She let out a little squeal and tried to push herself away from him. He let go of her hips momentarily and she twisted away from him, managing to reach out and dip her hand into a vat of paint she could reach, laughing the whole time. She felt his paint covered fingers reach out and grab the side of her neck, twisting her head again as he pressed his lips fervently against hers. Her laughter quickly subsided into a drawn out groan as she lifted the hand not covered with paint to the back of his neck, her fingers playing with the short hairs she found there.

For a moment, she forgot where she was. She ran her index finger from his collar down the front of his white shirt, a straight red line from the collar down to his belt buckle. Angling her face towards his, she simultaneously pressed her hand flat against the front of his hips as she pushed her tongue past his lips and into his mouth. He pushed himself closer to her hand, the reaction immediate and uncontrollable. She smiled against his lips when she realized what she had just unintentionally done.

Sensing the shift in her attitude, he pulled away from her slowly, immediately eyeing her suspiciously. Kate bit her lip and glanced down to where her hand was still resting against his zipper. He pulled his lower body away from hers (reluctantly he might add) and looked down at himself, taking in the line of red down his chest, and the bright red blotch in the shape of her hand, right on the front of his pants.

He looked at her, the shock clear on his face.

Kate shrugged, a wicked smile on her face.

"How's that for _touch_ -"

She barely finished her sentence before she found her back pressed against the surprisingly dry canvas, feeling the few spots of still wet paint transferring to her skin. He immediately dropped his lips to her collarbone, sucking on the skin there that he knew drove her crazy. She rolled her shoulders back against the canvas, feeling it stretch slightly underneath the added stress of her weight, the slightly wet paint sliding against her shoulders.

Kate wasn't sure how he managed to do it, but somehow he had managed to get his fingers into yet another thing of paint. She felt the cool brush of paint against her neck and she quickly pulled away and looked at him and then the canvas, taking in the line of brown that he had just traced along the side of her neck.

"Rick…" she gasped, still breathless from his kiss, "… you'll ruin it."

In response, Rick pressed his lips against hers again, short in length but with bruising force, and effectively putting her right back where he wanted her.

"I'm doing what I was told…" he murmured, leaning towards her ear, his fingers skimming past her hip, "… I'm painting what drives me wild."

Rick sucked her earlobe into his mouth and any argument she had was completely lost.

He finished tracing her shape against the canvas, never letting his lips leave her skin, before wiping his finger off on his shirt. He leaned in and kissed her lips gently, telling her without words that he loved her before pulling her gently away from the canvas so they could stand in front of it together.

In theory, it really shouldn't have looked good. But somehow, it did. It looked really good. For a detective and a writer anyway. The background was a swirl of thick strokes of different color, red and green and purple and yellow and orange and blue splashed across the fabric with the white still breaking through. And then there was the distinct shape of her (well, at least her shoulders and her head and her waist and hips), outlined in brown where he had ran his hands around her as he kissed her, permanently etched along the sea of colors.

"Not bad," he said, looking at the canvas.

Kate smiled at him and leaned down to the black tin of paint, dipping two of her fingers in it before turning to him. She grabbed his wrist with the hand not coated in paint, lining him up exactly as she wanted before outlining him the same way he had done to her. She pulled him away dipped two other fingers in the brown paint and quickly went to work. It took her only a few moments before she was done, and when she pulled back and went to stand next to him again. He looked at her and smiled, leaning down kissing her gently before twining his fingers with her paint covered ones.

The way she had outlined his shape, it looked like she had painted him standing behind her. Where her figure had previously been armless, she had painted them so they looked like she had them wrapped around her, with his arms holding them both together.

She clearly was not an artist. Her painting skills were crude at best, but it was them, and it spoke wonders to the safety and comfort and love she felt when she was with him. Now, it was -

"Perfect," she heard Sunshine say before hearing the sound of a photograph being taken.

Kate looked back at the woman. She had nearly forgotten that she was there.

Kate took in the woman, her hand still wrapped up in Rick's. The woman was standing behind the two of them, holding an old-fashioned Polaroid camera in one hand, the developing picture in the other.

Sunshine caught her expression and smile, all the while shaking the photograph in her hand slowly. She looked at it and then handed it over to Kate. The picture was of the two of them standing with their backs turned to the camera, Rick with a purple handprint on his ass, and Kate with two much larger blue handprints plainly visible on the back of her own pants, other random splotches of paint on their clothes from their teasing. You could vaguely see the blue lines on her neck where Rick's fingers had been, the paint that had gotten in her hair when he had pushed her against the canvas, and the stripes that Kate had painted on Rick's arms. Kate stood about a head shorter than Rick, their fingers still wrapped around each other's. Through the space between them, you could vaguely see their canvas, their figures front and center.

Kate tore her eyes away from the picture and looked at the woman again. Sunshine smiled at her, and Kate realized that this is exactly what she wanted to happen. The look in her eyes said that Sunshine had seen what was in the picture far before Kate and Rick had, and she knew that when they saw it too, it was going to be beautiful.

They just need a little push to let go entirely.

Kate smiled at Sunshine and nodded, telling her that everything was okay before looking back to Rick, who was still staring transfixed at their canvas, and squeezed his hand before handing him the photograph.

Maybe this woman wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

><p>A month and a half later, Kate had finally moved the last of her boxes from the van downstairs into the living room of the loft. She looked around and sighed in content, happy that she was now officially moved in and now all that was left to unpack. She really wanted to leave it until tomorrow, but she knew that the quicker she got it done, the better it would be for everyone.<p>

Sighing (this time out of resignation), Kate lifted up a box of what she knew contained clothes and started to carry them towards their bedroom. Rick would be up again in a few minutes after he tipped the driver for the moving van. If she could get everything to the bedroom, maybe she could get him to help her get it all out of the boxes.

The door to the study was open and she walked through the doorway, intent on heading for the bedroom. She looked over at his desk, and stopped short, almost dropping the box she was carrying.

Behind his desk, where the photograph of the square staircase that she was sure had some meaning to Castle but one she had never understood, was their canvas.

She wasn't sure how long she spent staring at it, incredibly touched that he had wanted to put it in a space that he obviously spent so much time in. She didn't even know when he had gone to pick it up. Sunshine had mentioned wanting to keep it in the studio for a little while to help get the word out, and they had agreed because more than anything they just wanted to get home and help wash the paint off of each other.

"It looks perfect there doesn't it?" He said, wrapping his arms around her middle.

Still holding the box in her hands, she shook her head at him.

"You didn't have to put it up," she said modestly, "It doesn't really go with the décor."

"Nonsense," he said, pulling the box out of her hands and setting it on the floor beside them. He turned her around and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, bringing her into his chest. She wrapped her own arms around his torso and pressed her cheek against his heart.

He kissed her hair and continued, "It's the single most inspiring thing about this room."

She leaned back and looked into his eyes, making sure he could see how much it meant to her before leaning up and pressing her lips against his, kissing him languidly, not making any move to deepen the kiss.

When she felt his hands tease the skin of her waist, she pulled away from him.

"We should start unpacking me."

Rick shook his head, "I'd rather be undressing you."

"You'll have plenty of time for that later."

Rick paused to think for a moment before he made a decision. He shook his head decisively, "Nope, there's plenty of time for that now."

Kate bit back a laugh and Rick continued.

"I think I need to welcome you home," he said, pressing his lips to her neck.

Kate hummed, "And what exactly did you have in mind?"

"I don't exactly have a plan…" he said into her skin. Kate tried to bite back a moan. "… but I think we'll think of something. After all…" he removed his lips from her neck and Kate watched as he glanced over to the canvas hanging on the wall, before looking back at her, pulling her t-shirt over her head, "you are very… _inspiring."_

* * *

><p>1) I had a gym teacher named Rainbow Aphrodite. We're friends on facebook. Don't go hatin' on my flower child name.<br>2) Sunshine is such a shipper.**  
><strong>3) I'm a Phillies fan.  
>4)<strong> Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think!<strong>


	10. ExWives & Kitchen Counters

1. I didn't forget about you.  
>2. I have 34 exams down for this week.  
>3. I told myself I wouldn't write... but this wouldn't leave me alone.<p>

* * *

><p>Ex-Wives &amp; Kitchen Counters<p>

* * *

><p>Kate woke up to a large crash coming from somewhere in the apartment. Her eyes snapped open immediately and she lifted her head, looking around to see if anything had fallen to the ground off of one of the counters or not, but she couldn't see anything out of place.<p>

She felt an arm wrap tightly around her waist and pull her back down towards the bed she had lifted herself off of.

"Whawasthat?" a tired voice whispered into her hair.

She tucked herself back into Rick's side, placing her head on his chest.

"Dunno," she mumbled back, placing a kiss against his skin, "Nothing in here."

She closed her eyes and tried to drift back into sleep. A quick glance at the clock on his side confirmed it was only 7:30, and today was her day off. They had had a late night the night before, so she thoroughly intended to spend as much time sleeping today as possible.

She may not even leave his sinfully comfortable bed today.

Sorry… _their _sinfully comfortable bed.

And if he just happened to want to spend all day in it with her?

Well, that would make for a very happy Kate.

"Don't you want to get up and investigate?" he said, his voice still laced with sleep.

"Do you really want me to get up?" she challenged.

He hummed, running his hand down her bare side to her hip before bringing it up and splaying it across her back to move up her spine. She unconsciously arched into him as his hand made its way to the spot between her shoulder blades, his fingers wrapping around the ends of her hair and twirling them around his fingers.

"Hm…" he said, "I guess I don't."

Kate hummed in reply, sliding one of her hands across his torso and pulling him closer to her.

"We're all alone," she whispered into his chest, and he could feel her smiling.

Alexis had just finished up her first year at Columbia and was spending the summer doing another internship at a law firm in the city. She was still trying to decide whether she wanted to be a lawyer, or if she wanted to go into forensic pathology (that brief internship with Lanie the year before had really made an impact). Rick supported her completely and even though she was gone Monday through Friday from 7 in the morning to sometimes as late as 8 at night, he was just glad she was home.

But for the next 2 days, Alexis was visiting some college friends down in North Carolina.

Martha had (finally) moved out the loft and into a small two bedroom apartment near her acting studio. She dropped by occasionally to say hello (Rick never took her key back) and occasionally stayed for the day, but this week she had taken some of her most enthusiastic students to an acting workshop at some remote location up in the Catskills.

With Esposito off as well, Rick knew that Lanie would not be calling on his girlfriend to go shopping or out to lunch, Ryan and Jenny were down in Georgia for her sister's wedding (Rick and Esposito had clapped him on the back in sympathy when they heard that. Tough luck man), and Jim was on a fishing expedition with some of his AA buddies to celebrate 11 years of being sober.

They truly were all alone.

No interruptions.

"It seems we are," Rick said back, shifting so he could open his eyes and look at her, "Did you have any plans?"

Kate shrugged against him.

"My plan doesn't involve leaving this bed all day."

Rick nodded, "I would be happy to let you sleep all day. You need it."

Kate shook her head, "No, in my plan there's little sleeping… And you don't get to leave either."

"Why Detective," Rick said softly, trying to hide the rough edge of his voice that her words had caused, "Do you plan on illegally detaining me?"

She sighed thoughtfully.

"I would, but my cuffs are in the safe," her fingers traced patterns along his side towards his hips, "and I would much rather you be an…_ active_ participant."

He groaned as her hand dipped lower down his abdomen. He reached out with a second hand and pulled her closer to him, so she was almost lying on top of him.

"I don't think that will be a problem," he managed to say, his voice rough as he wrapped his fingers in her hair and pulled her lips down to his. She moaned into the kiss, opening her mouth to his and shifting against him, the sheet falling over her back and onto the bed. He let his hands wander, moving down her back and stopping over her ass, pulling her closer against him.

Another loud bang from somewhere out in the loft, this time closer to the bedroom, made them both startle.

"Richard?" She heard someone call out.

Kate pulled away from Rick to see him frozen underneath her.

She heard the door to the office open and Rick swore under his breath, reaching down and pulling the sheet back over top of them, pulling her back down on top of him and twisting her head into her chest to shield her from whoever was entering before the bedroom swung open.

"Richard, darling! I'm here… Oh! I didn't realize you'd have someone here –"

"Meredith," Rick said, cutting her off, his teeth clenched, "What are you doing here?"

Meredith plopped down on the foot of the bed, and Kate her face burn.

Your ex-husband is in bed with his girlfriend and he clearly doesn't want you there, yet you sit down on his bed?

Does this woman have no sense of social cues?

"I'm in town for an audition," Meredith said, "I thought I'd stop by and see my favorite writer and daughter."

Kate felt her jaw clench.

Whether it was because Meredith had the nerve to call him her favorite writer, or that she was so disconnected with her own daughter's life he didn't know, but Rick felt it all the same.

"Meredith, when was the last time you talked to Alexis?" Rick asked, his voice low.

Meredith thought, "Hm… I guess it was around two months ago? I thought I'd surprise her."

Rick felt Kate clench her fists into his side, clearly telling him that Meredith needed to get out of their bedroom.

_Now._

"Look Meredith, Kate's sleeping, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Kate?" Meredith asked.

"Yes," Rick said, "Kate. My girlfriend."

Even with her face against Rick's chest, she could feel Meredith's eyes on her.

"Oh!" Meredith said, "Nikki Heat."

Rick squeezed Kate in response, anticipating her reaction before she had a chance to respond herself.

"No," he ground out through clenched teeth, "_Kate_. Look, we had a long week and she needs her rest. Let's continue this conversation elsewhere."

She felt Meredith get off the bed.

"Then let's go to the living room."

Rick answered, "I'll be out in a minute."

"Nothing I haven't seen before, Rick."

Kate's was surprised that Rick hadn't yelped at how hard she was clenching her fist around his side.

A moment passed before Rick spoke again.

"Get out, Meredith. _Now_."

Kate sat up as soon at the door closed. She pursed her lips and looked down at him, her eyes hard.

"I…" Rick started.

"Save it," Kate said rolling her eyes, standing up and taking the sheet with her, leaving him lying bare on the bed.

She walked towards the bathroom, "I'm going to shower. _Alone_…" She nodded at him, her eyes focusing on his obvious arousal, giving him a mean smile, "You should probably take care of that before you go face your ex-wife."

Before he had a chance to respond Kate moved into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She dropped the sheet and immediately moved over towards the shower, turning it on as hot as it would go.

She groaned as she stepped in, the water hitting her back.

Worst day off ever.

* * *

><p>When Kate got out of the shower, Rick was gone. She sighed and threw the sheet back onto the bed, wrapping her towel tightly around herself before moving towards their closet.<p>

Kate let her towel fall to her feet, reaching into one of her drawers on her side of their dresser and pulling out a pair of small, cotton shorts, sliding them up her legs. Then she opened her drawer of t-shirts before promptly shutting it again. She moved over towards Rick's side of their dresser, grabbing one of his t-shirts from a writing convention and pulling it over her head.

She would be damned if she let one of Rick's ex-wives make her feel uncomfortable in her own home. If she wanted to wear her boyfriend's shirt, she would.

Kate tucked one of the edges of the shirt into her shorts before leaning down and picking her towel off the floor. She ran it over her hair a few times to get the excess water out of it, pushing her fingers through it to untangle it. She looked back towards the bathroom and decided against blow drying her hair.

It was her day off. That means it was her hair's day off as well.

She walked barefoot across the wood floor, throwing the towel in the hamper by the bathroom door before moving out of the bedroom and through Rick's study, stopping on the other side of the door at the sound of the hushed (but angry) voices in the living room.

"… If you would have _called_," Rick said, "you would've known that Alexis wasn't here."

"It's not that big of a deal, Richard. I'm sure your 'girlfriend' will understand."

"It's serious, Meredith!" Rick snapped, "She lives here! You don't just get to barge in here anymore. You lost that privilege 19 years ago when you walked out on your husband and your daughter."

Kate could practically hear Meredith's eye roll.

"Kitten –"

"No," Rick said, cutting her off, "Don't 'kitten' me. I love her, Meredith. I really do. More than I've ever loved anyone other than Alexis. I'm going to marry her one day, and this time it's going to be forever…"

Kate chose this moment to push open the door and slip out into the living room. She found Rick and Meredith standing across from each other, Meredith with her hands on her hips, Rick with his arms stiff by his side.

She couldn't help but wonder if this was how their arguments looked in the past before they got divorced.

Kate shook her head, deciding to act as if she had just woken up and got out of the shower, even though she was wide awake.

"Hey," she said softly. Both of their heads snapped in her direction, Meredith looking her up and down and Rick's posture softened immediately.

He smiled at her, "Good morning, beautiful."

Kate wasn't usually one for pet names, but she let it slide this time. She moved over towards him, reaching up and running a hand through her hair as she shuffled across the floor. He opened his arms to her as she reached him, enveloping her in his embrace as she cuddled into his chest. She leaned back and he kissed her sweetly, before she turned towards Meredith, attempting to move out of his embrace slightly. He didn't let her though, holding her against him tightly. Normally, it would annoy her, but again, this wasn't exactly a normal situation.

"Hello, Meredith," Kate said, "I didn't know you were stopping by."

Rick mumbled under his breath, playing along with her ignorance, "None of us did."

Meredith ignored Rick and gave Kate a tight-lipped smile.

"It was supposed to be surprise for Alexis, but Richard just informed me that she's not in."

Kate shook her head, "No, she went to visit some friends in North Carolina for the week. She'll be back in a few days."

Meredith pouted at Kate, "Oh, I'll probably be gone by then. I'm only in town until Wednesday."

"We'll tell her you stopped by," Rick said. "Now leave."

"Oh Ricky, stop it," Meredith scolded, "Just because you're uncomfortable doesn't mean we can't be civil."

"I'm not the one who barged into my ex's house at 7:30 in the morning. How is that civil?" Rick bit back. Kate placed a hand on his chest and she felt him exhale, calming himself down at her touch.

"Meredith," he said, attempting to be calm, "We just want to spend a nice, relaxing day at home on our day off. It's been a rough week. I'll book you a room at the Plaza and you can get yourself a spa day. Just… leave."

"But I'm already here."

"This isn't a hotel, Meredith," Rick said, his frustration shining through again, "this isn't your space anymore."

"Well, I guess we'll all just have to share," Meredith said to Kate before looking at Rick with a playful expression, "There's plenty of Richard to go around."

Kate bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn't let that slide.

"No…" Kate said, her voice far too sweet, "… I think he's just enough for me."

Before Meredith could retort, Kate spoke again.

"I think I need some coffee. Would you like some?"

Meredith shook her head, "Oh dear god no, that stuff is awful for your teeth. I'll be whitening my teeth for a month."

"I would love some," Rick said, "I'll come help you."

She nodded tersely and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the kitchen. She started a pot of coffee as a formality before turning and looking at him, her eyes on fire.

"Kate, I –"

She cut him off, pushing him up against the kitchen counter. He hit the surface with a groan, but then he felt her stand directly in front of him, pressing the entire length of herself up against his front. She pushed herself up on her toes and looked at him directly in the eye.

"I. Don't. Share." She said, her voice low and dangerous.

He nodded, "Never, Kate," he said, hoping that his voice was as earnest as he felt, that she believed him, "There's no one else Kate."

She nodded, before she leaned forward and brushed her nose against his, her breath hot against his lips.

"There better not be."

He nipped at her breath in the air, still frustrated by what had transpired in their bed only 20 minutes before. When they were so rudely interrupted by his ex-wife.

God, it was like his worst nightmare.

"I don't need anyone else," he said, his hands coming to the hem of the shirt she was wearing and running his hands up her thighs, "You're more than enough."

Kate leaned back away from his seeking lips, watching as he pursed his lips in frustration.

"Your ex-wife is watching us."

His eyes opened, "She is?"

He made a move to turn his head and glare at her, but Kate stopped him, stilling the movement with her hands on his cheeks.

He was here. She was here.

She might as well do what she was planning on doing today, right?

So she kissed him.

He immediately moved to deepen the kiss, his frustration and enthusiasm shining through, and she almost felt bad for leaving him the way she had earlier that morning.

She pressed herself up against him, her hands skimming down his chest to the waistband of the sweatpants he had thrown on. She dipped her fingers just below the elastic waistband and he responded enthusiastically, gripping her hips tightly between his fingers and spinning them around, hoisting her up onto the counter, never breaking their kiss. She spread her legs immediately and he settled in between them. She locked her legs around his hips as she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth. He groaned and slid her hips along the counter, bringing them even closer together. She felt him tug on her shorts, pulling them down far enough so that her underwear would have been showing if she had put any on to begin with.

He felt her bare hips and groaned once again against her, before sliding his hands up under her shirt, past her ribs and up to the side of her breasts. She gasped as his thumbs ghosted over her peaks, feeling his smile against her lips. She pushed herself further into him and he finally tore his lips away from her lips to caress the rest of the skin he had neglected. Moving her hands off of him, she leaned back on the counter as his lips began their descent from her jaw to her collarbone.

She heard heels walking towards the kitchen, but she ignored them.

This was her home, her boyfriend. She can kiss him anywhere and any place and in any way she wanted.

If he was going to keep doing _that_, she may be persuaded to let him do it in public.

"I think I'm going to spend the day shopping," Meredith said, the disdain clear in her voice, but Rick didn't remove her lips away from Kate's skin, "And then I'll check into a hotel for the night."

Kate vaguely registered that she should be embarrassed that Rick was sucking on her neck in front of company…

Actually, wait? This woman had shown up uninvited, absurdly early, and had the nerve to claim she had a spot here. Why should she be embarrassed? This was Kate's home. This was Kate's kitchen. And Rick was Kate's boyfriend.

He was hers.

And she didn't share.

Kate looked at her and gave her a tight-lipped smile.

"Good idea."

Rick just slid one of his hands out from under her shirt and waved goodbye.

"Leave your key," he said against Kate's neck.

Kate bit her lip to stifle a smile as Meredith huffed angrily, slapping her key onto the table her heels clacking loudly as she made it to the door, slamming it behind her.

"No more." Kate said when the door closed behind them.

"She left her key."

"She's insane. She might have a copy somewhere."

"I'll change the locks," he mumbled, fighting a smile at her conspiracy theories regarding his ex-wife. She probably wouldn't appreciate that. "Alexis is over 18. There's no legal reason Meredith needs a key."

Kate pulled away from his lips and switched positions, leaning close to him.

"Tomorrow," Kate whispered against his skin, her teeth teasing the vein in his neck, the spot she knew drove him wild.

He groaned, his fists tightening on her hips.

"First thing in the morning," he agreed, letting his hands loosen and trail down to her legs.

Kate hummed contentedly against his neck, finally latching her lips onto the skin and sucking on his pulse point lightly. He let his head fall back as she leisurely kissed his neck, undoubtedly leaving a light mark. He found he didn't care at all. She could bruise every inch of his body if she did it with her lips.

She pulled away after a minute, kissing the mark with a quick closed lip kiss before covering his hands on her thighs with hers and looking up at him with a small smile.

"So…" she teased, "… you love me?"

Rick leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose.

"You've known this for quite some time."

"And you want to marry me," Kate said, still smiling.

He smiled back, "I think it's safe to say the whole world knows I want to marry you by now. I don't just write novels about anyone, you know."

Kate scrunched up her nose.

"You're ex-wives aren't invited to the wedding."

Rick barked out a laugh, half because of her expression and half because she essentially admitted she'd say yes.

"Whatever you want, Kate," he said with a smile.

Kate smiled back.

"You know what I want right now?" she said softly, her fingers trailing down the front of his t-shirt.

"Coffee?" he whispered.

She shook her head.

"Then what do you want?" he whispered, leaning in and nuzzling the spot under her ear with his nose.

"I want you to take me back to bed," she whispered.

"Oh yeah?" he whispered back, pressing his lips against the spot.

"Yeah," she said, sighing as his lips touched her skin, "Rick?"

He hummed against her neck.

"We have too many clothes on."

Best day off_ ever_.

* * *

><p><strong>Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think!<strong> otherwise I'm just studying... and that's no fun.


	11. Undercover Ops & Backseats

1. This is the longest update to date.  
>2. This is the closest to smut I've ever actually gone.<br>3. I'm officially out of ideas (I'm sure I'll think of something... Hopefully)

* * *

><p>Undercover Ops &amp; Backseats<p>

* * *

><p>When Rick found out that Gates was sending Beckett on an undercover job to try to build a good rapport with a neighboring precinct, he had been incredibly jealous. When he found out that he was being sent along to go with them, he nearly kissed Gates. When he found out where they were going, Rick was already trying to decide whether he should send Gates chocolates or diamonds.<p>

The neighboring precinct was in need of "a man and a woman who could hold their own and pass off as affluent individuals in society looking for a good time."

The fact that Gate's had immediately volunteered Kate as said woman was not surprising. She _was_ the best the Twelfth had to offer. The fact that Gate's volunteered him to go as the man rather than Ryan or Esposito or any of the other perfectly capable male detectives/officers in the precinct to go with her had shocked him. Perhaps the Eighth had hinted that someone with a certain public image could be of use. Maybe they mentioned that they needed someone who didn't scream "cop" as soon as they walked into a room. Or maybe Gates just realized that Kate does her best work when she's working with someone she trusts.

What do you know? He fits all those categories (it's the hair).

He looked over and saw Kate's jaw clenched as she listened to Gates, and he had to fight the urge to reach out and smooth his fingers over that spot where her spine met her skull that he knew forced her shoulders to immediately relax.

Plus, she had left her hair down today. He had never been able to keep his hands from her hair.

That's what he got for teasing her while they were in the shower this morning.

He shook his head slightly, not wanting to think about their intimate moments in the presence of her boss and instead shifted his weight slightly from side to side, trying to keep himself from jumping up and down with all of his energy.

This was going to be awesome.

* * *

><p>When Kate found out that she and Rick were being forced to go undercover as part of her own personal plan to gain favor with the neighboring precincts, she had been furious. To drag her and her partner into a dangerous situation just so the Captain of the Eighth Precinct would put in a good word for her and her rumored bid for police chief next year was by far the most selfish thing Gates could do.<p>

Kate and Gates' relationship had seriously improved over the past year, Kate would even go so far as to say they were friendly, but there were still things that each of them would do that would annoy the other to no end.

This, when Gates used her detectives as a pawn in her own personal game, was one of the biggest annoyances for Kate.

But she bit her tongue, knowing that going against Gates' wishes would not help her in the long run, that Gates would not budge on this.

So she listened to their operation as she felt Rick shift his weight from side to side excitedly at the prospect of going undercover. Normally, she would find his enthusiasm endearing.

Not this time.

Because what Rick wasn't listening to was the fact that the Eighth Precinct is the division known for dealing with the large drug busts and the shutting down prostitution circles for New York's finest politicians.

This time, the Eighth was going after a man named Stephen Mayer, a drug lord known on the street as Dust because of his specialty in obtaining illegal powder cocaine, and Caroline Byers, the Madam for their newest prostitution circle that they had gotten wind of. They had heard the two were working in tandem, out of a local club called 51. Mayer provided just enough coke so Byers could keep her girls' inhibitions low, and the extra clientele she brought into the club often tried to score some drugs before they bought themselves a girl. Rick and Kate's goal was to get evidence on both of their operations. They would be wearing wires, and Ryan and Esposito would be waiting along with the people from the Eighth in a surveillance van (one of Kate's stipulations. Rick knew it was because she wanted to have someone that she knew would get them immediately if there was trouble), ready to bust the whole operation as soon as both Rick and Kate got enough evidence to prove that Mayer was selling cocaine out of the club and Byers was indeed the Madam they were looking for.

Kate had a feeling that she wasn't going to be the one trying to score a date with a prostitute.

Which left her facing a known, dangerous, drug lord, unarmed, with Rick trying to find himself a prostitute without her there for back-up.

Fantastic.

* * *

><p>Kate and Rick left the Eighth Precinct after being given (another) official rundown of the plan for the night. They had gotten ready in their (locked) interrogation rooms and fitted with their wires by their tech people. As they got into the car, Kate waited until the surveillance van pulled up beside them, before pulling away from the Eighth and out onto the dark streets.<p>

Kate was anxious, her hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. She couldn't shake the feeling that this was not going to go as smoothly as the Eighth told them it would. That it wasn't going to work for Kate to walk up to Mayer and say "hey, I'm looking for a party tonight and a little birdy told me you're the guy to go to." That it wasn't going to work for Rick to walk up to Byers and say, "Hi, I'm Rick Castle, my buddy in the senator's office said that you're the person to talk to if I was looking for girl to have fun with. Well let me tell you… I'm looking."

That thought had Kate's jaw clenching. No matter how fake it was, Kate didn't like the idea of Rick looking for a prostitute. He didn't need someone to have sex with. He had her. And she took care of him plenty.

Rick on the other hand was jittery with excitement. He was tapping his fingers along her dashboard, the phrases "so cool" and "this is so great" and "best case ever" and "like Mr. and Mrs. Smith" falling out of his mouth every so often and with every outburst of excitement Kate felt her stomach clench tighter.

"Rick," she snapped in the car, "Can you please take this seriously?"

Rick sobered immediately.

"Kate, I…"

"No, Rick. These are dangerous people who aren't going to bat an eyelash about someone taking you outside and killing you in some dirty alley because they thought you're a threat. I'm not going to be standing right next to you…" She took a deep breath, trying to control herself, "I need you to take this seriously when we're in there. I need you to promise me that you'll be careful."

Rick looked at the hard lines of her face, but he could see the worry clear in her eyes. He sat in silence as she took a ticket from the machine and pulled the car into the parking garage five blocks away from the club. She parked in one of the first available spots, but left the keys in the ignition, staring ahead at the concrete wall in front of her.

Rick unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over the center console in the car. He peeled her hands off the steering wheel, letting them fall into her lap before he let go and took her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him.

"I promise," he said, hoping that his voice contained his sincerity, "I won't do anything other than what they told me to do…"

Kate looked at him for a moment before she nodded, her shoulders relaxing slightly. She tried to pull away but he wouldn't let her.

"… If you make the same promise. You don't need to be super cop in there Kate. I need you to be safe, too."

He didn't like the idea of her facing a drug lord alone any more than she liked the idea of him talking to a Madam. He knew that she could handle herself, but he also knew that she didn't like to half ass anything. If she saw a way to get the information that was desired, she would do it, no matter what the danger to herself was.

He had been protective before they were even dating. Now that he had an engagement ring hidden away in his bookcase back at the loft?

There's no doubt in his mind that he would kill whoever was stupid enough to try and hurt her.

He felt her nod, her face still caught in his hands, her voice soft but sure.

"I promise."

He nodded and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss against her lips and attempting to pull away, but she tilted her head to deepen the kiss slightly and he couldn't pull away from her. She kissed him languidly for a few moments, her lips moving tenderly against his.

He ran his hand down the ruched side of her red, strapless, mini dress, moaning a little as he pulled away from her kiss.

"Have I told you that you look amazing tonight?"

Kate smiled at him, pretending to think about it, "Only once or twice."

Rick brought a hand up and traced his fingers over the sweetheart neckline.

"It bears repeating."

Kate smirked at him, running her fingers over his lips to smudge off some of her lip color with one hand and batting away the hand currently running over her skin.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and unlocked the doors, taking the keys out of the ignition and handing them to him so he could keep them in his pocket. Then she turned and looked at him.

"Come on, Rick," she said with a small smile, "We've got some bad guys to catch."

* * *

><p>Once Kate and Rick got into the club (not that it was an issue with her dressed in her fuck me heels and her dress that left very little to the imagination), they quickly parted ways. Kate immediately made her way over to the dance floor and Rick made his way over to the bar to people watch.<p>

He scanned the crowd for a couple minutes, ordering himself a Jack on the rocks and pretending to sip at it while he looked for the face he only knew from the photograph.

Perhaps two minutes later, he saw Caroline Byers sitting at an almost secluded table in the back with her cell-phone by her ear. She was scribbling away on a notepad distractedly, listening to whoever was on the other end of the call.

By the time Byers hung up the phone, Rick was sliding into the other side of the booth. Byers looked at up him as he lowered his glass onto the table, raising an annoyed eyebrow at him.

"What kind of woman," Rick said, keeping his voice deep, "comes to a club looking at beautiful as you do, to sit in a booth on her phone the whole time?"

Byers barely batted an eyelash, before turning back to the stack of papers in front of her, "I'm working."

Rick took a deep breath before nodding once, keeping his voice low.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

Caroline Byers looked up from her paper and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Or really?"

Rick nodded, "Yes."

Caroline leaned back in her seat slightly before putting her hands on the table in front of them, leaning in slightly.

"And what could I do for you?"

Rick gave her a small smile before shifting forward in his seat.

"A little birdy in the Senator's office told me that you're who I should come to if I was looking for a good time. And let me tell you… I'm looking."

Byers laughed a little, "Are you sure that little birdy isn't a cop?"

Rick furrowed his brow, "Why would you think that?"

Byers leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest, "You look a lot like Richard Castle. You know, that mystery novelist? And isn't he fucking his muse? That detective?"

Rick curled his toes in his shoes, a poor substitute for clenching his fists against the table, but it would have to do. Again, he just smiled.

"I get that a lot," Rick said sheepishly, "I've even signed books for him. His fans are probably really disappointed when they realize the signature is a fake."

Byers gave him a large smile, obviously believing him.

"So Mr…"

"Rodgers," Rick said, "Ben Rodgers."

"Well then Ben," Byers said, leaning across the table, her finger tracing the outer rim of his glass that he had brought over from the bar, "Let's say, theoretically, that I could find someone who was willing to help you have a good time tonight," she said, leaning across the table and into his space, "how do you think your girlfriend will feel about it?"

_She'd kill me_.

"My girlfriend?" Rick questioned.

"Yeah," Byers said, tilting her head to indicate something over his shoulder, "that leggy brunette over there that you walked in with? She's pretty. I'm sure she could show you a good time."

Rick looked over and found Kate. She was sitting next to Mayer at a large sofa just off of the dance floor. There were three other women around them, but Mayer wouldn't take his eyes off of his Kate. He watched as Mayer brushed his hand across Kate's collarbone, pushing back some of her long hair that had fallen over her shoulder and hidden her face from his sight.

Rick curled his toes again.

Did he say he wanted to send Gates diamonds? He meant a letter. To the Mayor. Telling him that what Gates was doing was highly inappropriate and this situation should have been handled by someone who was trained to deal with drug dealers and Madams and she should be removed from her post immediately.

"Her?" Rick said, hoping his voice sounded normal as he watched Mayer wrap his hand around Kate's thigh while he whispered in her ear, "She's just a friend. She's looking for a good time, too."

Byers pressed her tongue to the back of her teeth, her eyes trained on Kate.

"So, you're trying to forget about her?" Byers guessed, her lips forming a teasing smirk as she leaned even closer into his space, "Maybe make her a little… jealous?"

No, that was the last thing he wanted.

Not trusting his voice, he clenched his jaw and nodded once.

"And how much would you be willing to spend on a good time tonight?" Byers said, already clicking her pen.

"Whatever it takes," Rick said, trying to make his voice sound defeated, "Anything to forget about her."

Caroline looked at something on her notepad, scribbling something down before giving Rick a small smile.

"I think I have just the girl for you. Let me call her down here," Byers said, reaching for her cell phone once again.

Rick closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the counter, fighting the urge to look back at Kate. He lost and shot a quick glance at her, just in time to see the two of them exchanging something in their hands before he watched as Mayer put his hand on Kate's neck and kiss her entirely too close to her mouth.

Then he heard the loud sound of collective feet moving towards them, and Rick looked up to see Ryan on point moving towards him to cover him as he slipped out from the booth as half of the armed officers circled the booth, telling Byers to stand up with her hands in the air.

Rick tried to fight it, he really did, but he just couldn't stop himself.

"And just so you know, Caroline," Rick said through clenched teeth as she stood up slowly, glaring at him, "She is my girlfriend."

* * *

><p>As soon as Kate separated from Rick she moved across the dance floor, moving along to the beat of the music as she found her way to the center. She danced with a few people as she passed them for only a moment, giving them a smile before moving deeper into the crowd of people. Her eyes were constantly moving, roving over the crowd hoping to find Stephen Mayer somewhere in the sea of faces.<p>

She stayed moving in the crowd of people, hoping she just looked like some single girl who just wanted to have a good time, or a girl whose date was just going to get her a drink at the bar.

Which, I mean, she thinks is kind of true. Rick was at the bar. And he did have a drink. But Kate saw his eyes searching through the crowd of people, oblivious to the women looking at him from the other side of the bar, his eyes scanning the club for his own target.

Kate felt a small sense of pride, realizing that he was taking his promise to her seriously.

Kate turned away from the bar then and scanned the crowd again.

She locked eyes with Mayer, sitting on a sofa just off to the side of the dance floor as she spun around. She didn't startle, but broke eye contact for a moment before lifting her gaze back at him, looking at him with hooded eyes. She bit her lip as she danced a little more, watching as he looked her up and down with a leer that made her feel sick to her stomach. He nodded at her, motioning with his finger that was attached to one of his arms that was wrapped around another girl for her to come closer to him.

As she approached him, he removed his arm from around the other girl before nudging her out of the way. When there was enough space, he motioned for her to sit down next to him. She did, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"What's a pretty girl like you," Mayer said in what Kate assumed was supposed to be his seductive voice, "doing out there dancing all by herself?"

Kate smiled playing along, "Just looking for a good time…" she bit her lip, "… dancing makes me feel good."

Mayer smiled at her, but Kate continued speaking.

"I'm looking for other ways to feel good…" gesturing towards the women on the other side of the couch who were clearly stoned, "… something like whatever they had."

She watched as Mayer's eyes narrowed slightly before he relaxed again.

"Oh yeah?" he said, looking at her, "and how will your boyfriend feel about that?"

_He'd kill you for having your arm around me_.

"My boyfriend?" Kate asked, playing dumb, knowing there was no way Mayer could know the truth.

Mayer nodded over towards a booth and Kate looked over, finding Rick and Byers sitting on different sides of the booth. However, Byers was leaning way into Rick's personal space, running her fingers along the edge of the glass he had carried to the table, looking at him from underneath her eyelashes with a predatory smile.

Thankfully, Kate didn't give anything away. Mayer must have seen them walk in together. No big deal. She could fix that.

"Him?" she said, turning to look back at Mayer, "That's my brother. I'm only in town for a few nights. Daddy's paying for my hotel room at the Plaza. But I want to have a good time. I want to go crazy. I want to feel my heart race…" Kate said, her voice getting more breathless as she went on, and she could see that she had Mayer exactly where she wanted him.

Kate reached her hand down the bust of her dress and pulled out a decent sized roll of bills.

"… And I'm willing to spend whatever I need to feel that way."

Mayer looked at her up and down, his eyes lingering on her chest before he leered at her.

"I like a woman who knows what she wants."

"And I like a man who can give me what I want," Kate retorted immediately.

Mayer laughed lightly, taking the money out of her hand and counting it out, sliding it into his shirt pocket. He removed his arm from her and leaned down to grab something out from underneath the table and she snuck another glance at Rick, seeing that Byers had moved even closer to him, smiling at him as if he were her prey.

She allowed her jaw to clench for a moment, hating the way that she was looking at him. She quickly schooled her features though, as she felt Mayer move back up.

He reached out and brushed his hand along her collar bone, pushing some of her hair back over her shoulder.

"What's your name?" he said softly, whispering in her ear as he let his hand drift down her arm to her legs, where he wrapped his hand around her thigh, tugging her towards him.

"Anything you want it to be," Kate said back, vomiting a little bit on the inside at the feel of his breath against her ear and the feel of his hand on her skin.

He reached out a hand and she met him halfway, sliding the little bag of drugs into her hand. He put his free hand on the other side of her neck, leaning in and kissing the side of her face.

He leaned back and smiled at her, "Anytime you need more of that," he said, gesturing towards the bag in her hand, "You come to me. I'll make you feel real good."

Kate heard the collective sound feet rushing towards them at the same moment Mayer did. The two of them looked up, Esposito and about half of the other officers from the Eighth advancing on them, their guns drawn.

"You dirty bitch," Mayer spat, looking back at her. He reached out his hand to hit her, but Esposito was already there, grabbing Mayer's outstretched arm and yanking him up from his feet, spinning him around as Esposito put him in handcuffs.

Kate stood up and straightened her dress, looking down to make sure everything was still in place. She handed over the bag of cocaine over to one of the uniforms before pulling her hair back over her shoulder.

"Stephen?" Kate said to call his attention, but it was unnecessary as he was still glaring at her. "He _is_ my boyfriend."

Kate looked over at Rick and saw him staring at her, a darkness in his eyes that she knew all too well. She felt her knees go weak at the sight of it, knowing _exactly_ how he was feeling, and began to walk over towards him.

* * *

><p>Rick grabbed Kate's hand as Ryan, Esposito, and the rest of the uniforms from the Eighth dealt with Byers and Mayer, not even bothering to be gentle. He pulled her along behind him as he wove through the crowd that had gathered to witness the take down, pushing his way past the people who were too busy tweeting about seeing a real undercover operation go down to see that he clearly in a hurry to get out of there as quickly as possible.<p>

He walked her out the door and past the people still in a line outside the club who were mumbling excitedly, the word of what just happened in the club already making its way past the doors. Rick ignored them all, wrapping Kate's arm around his, pulling her tighter against him at the cold, but still not giving her a chance to object.

He needed to get her home.

Now.

Or else she was going to have some explaining to do to the cops that were now patrolling outside why she, a cop herself, was engaged in such indecent activity against the dirty wall of an alley.

And really, she deserved more than that.

He led her into the over-priced parking garage where she had stashed the Crown Vic (he was still upset it was too cold to take the Ferrari). The place was nearly deserted, the majority of the people at the club either walking or taking advantage of the valet parking that the place offered that kept the cars in a different lot.

But unfortunately, you can't give a cop car to a valet.

He marched her up to the 3rd level of the parking structure through the concrete stairwell in the corner, immediately finding her car where she had parked it. Rick led her over to it, moving to open the passenger side door and ushering her inside when he felt Kate turn into dead weight against his arm. He stopped short, and looked back at her, his eyes dark.

Kate unwrapped her arm from around his, keeping their hands still attached, and moved in front of him before opening the door to the backseat. Then she pulled Rick forward, until his chest was pressed against her back. She turned them around before spinning herself around in front of him, placing her hand flat against the center of his chest, pushing him back and down into the backseat of the Crown Vic. As soon as he was sitting inside, Kate climbed in after him, effectively forcing him to lean back on his elbows as she crawled over him, slamming the door shut behind her.

Before Rick could even register the sound, Kate had her mouth fused against his, angry and hot as she forced her tongue past his lips. Rick responded back just as enthusiastically, pushing himself up against the door so he could move his arms freely. When he could, he wound one of his hands into her hair, his fingers fisting her long brown tresses as he tilted her head to the side and pushed his tongue even further into her mouth. He let his other hand trail down her side to the unbelievably short dress that had been teasing him (and every other male in the club) all night.

His fingers clenched around the bare skin of her thigh, pulling it closer against him.

Fuck every other guy in the club.

She was _his_. And damn it all if he wasn't going to keep it that way.

He let his hand fall from her hair, pushing his hips up into hers at the moan of discontent that she let escape into his mouth at the loss of contact, before he ran his hand down her opposite side to the leg and pushing his fingers underneath the hem of her dress, pushing it up over her hips so he could touch the bare skin underneath, pulling her hips down hard over his.

She felt Kate tense against him momentarily and he wondered briefly for a moment if he had gone too far until he felt her fingers move to the buttons of his shirt. Her hands fisted the material of his shirt and yanked it to the sides, the fabric ripping apart with a little grunt of effort on her part. Then, he felt her hand against his chest, and then a sharp pain where her fingers just were.

He hissed and pulled his lips away from hers, his eyes re-adjusting and finding her. Her legs on either side of him, the two of them barely fitting in the tiny backseat, he didn't think he had ever seen anything so sexy in his entire life. Her thighs were taught, bracing herself against him, the hem of her dress resting against her stomach with only a tiny scrap of lace separating him from what he really wanted. He looked up at her face, her hair falling wildly over her shoulders, her lips swollen from the force of his kiss, her eyes dark and filled with lust. He trailed his eyes downward, taking in the lines of her collarbone, the way her breasts pushed against the top of her dress.

And then he saw the police issued wire in her hand.

Oh, he had forgotten about that.

He smirked.

Well, someone was certainly getting quite the show.

She glared at him.

"What?"

His smirk only grew, "Just that some very lucky uniform just got imagine what it's like to have you straddling them."

As her eyes narrowed, he realized what he said. The smirk fell off his face, his mouth setting into a hard line as he grabbed the wire from her hand, ripping it apart with his fingers.

This time Kate smirked.

He growled in response.

Kate wasn't sure how he accomplished it, but he managed to flip them over, laying her down against the backseat with him hovering above her.

"Where's yours?" he said, through his teeth.

He didn't want anyone else to hear what was about to happen in the backseat of this car.

And that was perfect, because she didn't either.

"Underneath," she teased.

She quickly realized she shouldn't have, though.

Rick's hands immediately found her hips, his fingers circling around the skin there to check for the wire. He quickly found the piece of tape that was just above her left hip bone and he raked his nails up her side to follow the wire to where it curved over her abdomen to rest between her breasts. He pushed her dress further up her hips so he could fit his hand up it, the tightness of the dress creating a delicious friction as he pushed his hand up over her skin. She arched into his touch as he found the tape between her breasts, pulling it off of her skin much more gently than Kate had done to him. He pulled it back out from under her dress, peeling off the tape at her hip before ripping the flimsy wire apart as well and throwing it somewhere in the car.

At her raised eyebrow, he leaned in and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth.

"No one else will ever know what it feels like to be with you."

She watched through hazy eyes as he tried to lean down to kiss her chest, but he was much too tall to be trying to do this horizontally in the backseat of her tiny car.

She pushed herself up off of the seat and against his chest, moving so she was sitting. He followed suit, and once he was sitting normally in the backseat Kate straddled him again, hunching over and attaching her lips to his neck, her hands running across the planes of his chest. His own hands found her hips, pulling her down into him.

"I hated the way she looked at you," Kate said, traveling down from his neck to nibble on his collarbone.

He shifted, throwing his head back against the seat.

But he didn't stop touching her despite what she was doing to him. Rick released one of her hips from his grasp and brought it around to the front of her underwear before dipping his fingers underneath the elastic. She pushed herself closer against his hand, gasping against the bare skin of his chest.

"I hated the way he touched you," Rick said, brushing her fingers just past where he knew she wanted him to.

She arched her back again, pulling her lips away from his skin and throwing her head back as she ground her hips down against him, trapping his hand between the two of them so he couldn't move.

Not that he would ever want to.

Kate always felt like home.

He heard her gasp as she pushed them closer together and he was about to give in, give her exactly what she needed when Kate's phone went off in the front seat.

Kate groaned, letting her head fall against his collarbone in frustration before she began to lean back, bringing his hand and her center and his hand even closer to his lap.

His grip on her hip tightened.

"Let it go," he ground out.

The look in his eyes made her stop short. He shifted his hand slightly and Kate gasped, the feel of him almost too much to bear. He pushed his hips up into hers and pulled her down to him, still touching her. Her phone stopped ringing for only a moment before it rang again almost immediately.

Kate groaned again and leaned back, reaching behind her and grabbing her phone from the cup holder she stashed it in to turn it off. Then she saw who was calling.

She reached down and gripped Rick's wrist firmly, halting his movements as she answered the call.

"Beckett… Yes, hello sir… Thank you…" Kate sucked in a small breath as Rick curled his fingers against her, reaching down and pulling his hand away from her center. He pouted at the loss of contact, "… Yes, sir. I understand. Yes… Thank you, Sir… You too, Sir… Goodbye."

She hung up the phone and tossed it somewhere over the front seat. She looked down at Rick who hadn't taken his eyes off of her.

"That was Gates," Kate explained, though he had already figured that out, "Said she just got off the phone with the Captain of the Eighth wanted to 'personally congratulate us on a job well done.'"

"Well it would have been a job well done if she hadn't called and interrupted," Rick mumbled under his breath.

Kate heard anyway, throwing her head back and barking out a laugh before she looked back at him, her eyes shining with the lingering hints of lust and an overwhelming sense of love.

She leaned forward, bracing her hands against his chest and kissing him tenderly.

It lacked the heat from the moments before, but it was no less passionate, each of them content to just enjoy the taste of each other on their lips.

"She gave us the day off tomorrow," she said into his kiss.

He pulled away, his eyes sparkling with happiness.

"Really?"

"Mhm," Kate murmured leaning back down to kiss him. Rick reached up a hand and cupped her cheek, tilting her head slightly to the side, never breaking the kiss.

God, he could kiss her forever.

"Rick?" she mumbled against his lips.

Rick hummed.

Kate broke the kiss slightly, taking his bottom lip between her teeth and nibbling on it gently.

"Take me home."

Rick felt her hand move down to his chest before she reached the waistband on his pants.

"You can drive."

His eyes lit up and Kate thought her heart would burst with love for this man.

So easily pleased.

He took the keys from her hand, before looking at her seriously.

"So the whole day off? No bodies, not on call?"

Kate nodded.

Rick smiled.

"Good, because I've got plans."

Kate raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you do, do you?"

Rick nodded seriously.

"We're going to go home and crawl into bed, I'm going to have my wicked way with you until we fall asleep, and tomorrow I'm going to make you breakfast and then take you out for a nice dinner and why are you shaking your head?"

Kate shrugged her shoulders running the hand that was still resting on his chest and running it through his hair, mussing it slightly.

"I like my plan better."

This time he raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? And what plan is that?"

Kate tried to look nonchalant, "It just involves us, no clothing, and hardly leaving our bed all day."

She saw Rick's eyes go unfocused for a moment, undoubtedly imagining it before nodding furiously.

"You're right," he said resolutely, "Your plan is much better."

She smiled at him and he ran a hand up to her hair, pushing a silky curl behind her ear.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to go out to dinner with me tomorrow? Some place really nice?" He knew that she was exhausted, and he wanted to spoil her a little.

She shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders, pursing her lips momentarily before smiling at him.

"Nope," she said softly, "I want you all to myself."

* * *

><p>The feedback you guys always give is incredible.<br>Please don't stop.


	12. Libraries & Bookshelves

1. It feels like it's been a long time.  
>2. There are parts of this I really love<br>3. Read on.

* * *

><p>Libraries &amp; Bookshelves<p>

* * *

><p>Rick could think of no other place he wanted to take her than the library.<p>

Ever since he was a little kid, the library had been his haven. When his mother would spend long hours at shows, she would allow him to spend that time at the library. Sometimes on her days off, she would go with him, knowing how much he loved the place.

It was perfect. How much trouble could he get into at a library?

The answer? Quite a bit.

He thought about the things he could do all the time, the pranks he could play on the old librarians that worked there involving carts and switching around books on the shelves and unsavory things getting put into the return books slot. There were so many places to hide away in a place so big.

But he couldn't do it, couldn't pull any of them off. The place was too sacred, the books too important to mess around with. It would be a crime to try and play tricks on the books.

He taught himself to read in the Children's section with the help of an elderly librarian who kept an eye on him whenever she was working.

As soon as he realized that Kate loved books, he wanted to bring her here. He was sure she'd been here before. Was it even possible to be a college student in New York City and not take advantage of the publicl system? He even had his suspicions that she spent a lot of time there as a child. He could imagine young Katherine Beckett rummaging through the very Children's section he taught himself to read in with Johanna sitting at one of the well-lit tables, flipping through pages of law books for research for a case. He could see her sitting with her back against the shelves with her nose in a book, her long legs awkwardly folded underneath her as she lost herself in the words on the page.

He had seen the way her eyes lit up when she was at the loft, looking at the shelves of books that lined his office. He wanted to see it again, and on a much larger scale. They'd gone to a few bookstores together, but they had never gotten a chance to actually peruse because they had always gone in with a purpose, in and out within ten minutes.

And the library was much more personal than a bookstore. He had memories, cherished memories nestled between the pages of these books. He wanted to share this with her.

And can't you get married at the library? Oh, it would be perfect. They could keep the wedding relatively small, only the most important people would be there, which is what Kate would want. The writer and the muse getting married surrounded by word. His books brought them together in the first place. It's only fitting that they get married near them.

But, he was clearly getting ahead of himself. No more talk about marriage and weddings.

Give it a little more time.

He was perfectly content to be where he was right then, her back against his chest as her eyes scanned the shelves for titles she hadn't seen before, his chin resting on her shoulder.

He looked down at the book she was holding in her hand, _The Gargoyle _by Andrew Davidson. He watched as she flipped open the cover, her eyes darting across the front flap, reading the summary. She closed the book, running her fingers over the cover before making a move to put it back on the shelf. She paused halfway there, biting her lip before bringing the book back towards her again, flipping through the pages to get to the start of the first chapter, her fingers lying softly against the paper, keeping the book level.

He smiled. She was so adorable.

"Ah," he said into her ear, "A romantic at heart, are you Detective?"

She shifted from side to side, relieving some of her weight off of her feet. She tilted her head to the side, knocking against his gently.

"Shh," she scolded teasingly, "I'm reading."

He read over her shoulder as she flipped through the pages. Despite his qualms over the writer's last name, he really had to admire his courage in the language he used. It was gruesome and terrifying and horrifically honest and he couldn't tear his eyes away from the page.

They were almost to the end of the first chapter when he heard a voice beside him.

"Excuse me."

Both Kate and Rick removed their gazes from the book she held in front of them, to look up and see who spoke.

It was a man, probably in his mid-twenties, who had spoken to them. In his arms, he held a stack of books, one in his hand. At first, Rick thought he was a student at NYU, perhaps even a grad student, but then he saw the New York Public Library lanyard hanging out of his jean pockets.

Ah, he was a library aide, just putting books back on the shelves.

Without moving away from Rick, Kate stepped to the side with a small smile, making room for the library aide to let him get to the shelf. He ducked into the space that was left behind, putting the book he held in his hand back on the shelf near her hip.

"The Gargoyle?" the young man questioned as he stood upright again, "That's a great book."

Kate looked up from the pages again, smiling again.

"Really?" she said, her voice dripping with enthusiasm that made Rick smile, "Have you read it?"

He heard the young man clear his throat and Rick looked back at him. The library aide colored, his cheeks turning pink as he shifted back and forth on his feet.

"Well…" he sputtered, "I've never actually _read_ it. But… but I heard it was really… good."

Kate hummed, disappointed, and turned back to the book in her hands.

"Do you need any help?"

Kate just shook her head.

"No, we're good."

Rick had to bit his lip to keep himself from laughing.

It's just so… cute: A young man who gets thrown off his game by a beautiful woman.

_His _beautiful woman.

Rick let his eyes drift away from the pages to look back towards the shelf. His eyes narrowed when something caught his eye.

They were in the fiction section, the authors with the last name starting with "D".

The book that the library aide just put back on the shelf about the Zooxanthellae in coral reefs clearly did not belong there.

Either this library aide knew nothing at all about the library and the Dewey Decimal system, or he had purposefully put it there to get a chance to talk to Kate.

Rick clenched his jaw.

It wasn't so cute anymore.

He moved one of his hands from her hips and wrapped it around her stomach, hugging her closer to him. She didn't respond, just leaned in a little closer into his touch.

He shot a quick glance towards the young man who looked increasingly more uncomfortable.

Rick buried his face in Kate's hair, trying to hide his smirk.

As if the library aide could beat the author for the muse.

As if the library aide actually thought there was a chance of getting the muse.

Well, that's unfair. There's a possibility he might have had a chance. He was a good looking guy, nice and tall, broad shoulders. His glasses made him look young, but he had a nice smile. He worked as a library aide, so he was either desperate for money or really liked books, so Rick figured he probably had some level of intelligence even if he wasn't demonstrating it right then.

But for _this_ library aide to think he was going to get _this_ muse? _Nikki Heat? _

It was downright laughable.

"Are you sure there's nothing else I can help you with?"

He heard Kate huff in annoyance, but before she could respond, he cut in, pulling away from her and moving so he could look at her in the eye.

"Hey," Rick said, looking at Kate, "you're into mystery right?"

Kate raised an eyebrow, but thankfully played along.

"I'm a fan of the genre, yes," Kate said, narrowing her eyes so infinitesimally that if it was anyone else, Rick probably wouldn't have noticed, "Why?"

Rick smiled but he was sure she could see the darkness in his eyes before he grabbed the book from her hands and piled it onto the stack the flustered library aide. He reached out and held her hand and tugged on it.

"Come on," he said excitedly, pulling her away from the annoying Library aide without giving her a chance to say goodbye, "I just heard of this author and I've heard great things about him. I'm sure they have his books here."

"Who is he?" Kate asked as he worked his way through the shelves towards the mystery section, genuinely curious.

Rick just shook his head.

"Not until we get there," Rick said, looking back at her, "I don't want you to get your hopes up if all of his books are checked out. He's supposedly really good, so it wouldn't surprise me."

Kate narrowed her eyes again suspiciously, but by then Rick had already turned around, still holding her hand as he walked quickly towards the shelves.

Moments later he pulled her in front of the mystery shelves, looking through them theatrically before spinning around quickly.

"Close your eyes?"

Kate didn't move.

"Please?"

She sighed, not resisting the urge to roll her eyes at her excitable boyfriend before closing them with a sigh. She heard him moving towards the shelves, the distinctive sound of book covers against book covers as he slid the book off the shelf.

"Hold out your hands."

She did, and a few seconds passed before she felt the familiar weight of a book in her hands. She opened her eyes and promptly rolled them, but she couldn't stop the amused smile that teased the corner of her lips.

"Richard Castle, huh?" she said, turning the library's copy of _Heat Wave_ over in her hands, "I've never heard of him."

Rick shrugged, "I hadn't either, but I did some research and this guy is pretty serious. I heard he even shadows an NYPD detective for this book series," he said, gesturing towards the book in her hands.

Kate hummed, flipping through the first few pages, "What kind of name is Nikki Heat?"

"A good one," Rick says immediately, "But I heard this Richard Castle takes his work very seriously."

"Really?" Kate said, taking her eyes off the silhouette on the cover and meeting Rick's eyes for the first time since he gave her the book, "I've heard he's like a nine year old on a sugar rush."

"So you have heard of him?" Rick said, raising an eyebrow.

Kate pursed her lips teasingly, "Nothing but bad things, I can assure you."

Rick took a step towards her and closed the small space that was between them, using his height to get her to move. He shifted the two of them before he backed her up against the shelves, her shoulders hitting them with a soft thud.

He moved into her space again, the book pressed in between both of their chests, one of his feet pressed in between hers, her hips nestled comfortably against his own.

He leaned down and nudged her earlobe with his nose.

"From what I've heard, you two are very similar."

"Who?" she murmured, her thoughts no longer following their conversation as his tongue darted out and teased the hollow of her ear. She felt the book between them sliding against her chest and she watched with unfocused eyes as he held it in one hand.

"Nikki Heat," he said, and dammit she can hear the smile in his voice.

"How so?" she gasped as his teeth closed around her earlobe, nibbling on it slightly before he pulled back and nuzzled his face into her, his nose in her hair and his lips against her neck. He put the book back on the shelf behind her without looking and moved both hands to grip her sides.

"Well, for one," he said between kisses on her neck, "I hear she's pretty hot… Something about haunting good looks and fuck me heels that she can run in..."

"Is that so?" Kate breathed.

He hummed against her neck, the vibrations of his lips shooting straight through her as she bit her lip to keep herself quiet.

"Apparently has this reporter guy falling all over her."

This time she hummed as his teeth scraped the skin of her neck.

"She's smart," he continued, ignoring the hitch in her breathing, "Brilliant, actually. Knows how to control herself and everyone else in the room."

He moved his lips down to the juncture of her neck and her shoulder and nibbled on the skin.

She couldn't help it. One of her hands came up from her side and moved into his hair, fisting the strands lightly.

"She's strong. Can easily take out a man twice her size," he said, moving his lips down towards her collarbone.

"She has a lot of stamina," he murmured, slipping his hands under her shirt and running his fingers over her abdomen. She arched away from his touch and shivered but he moved with her, never losing contact. He settled his hands on her side, hooking his index fingers in the belt loops on her jeans and pulling her hips back tighter against his.

He bit down on the skin above her collarbone again and she pushed herself up on her toes, desperate to be closer to his lips. She heard him chuckle and opened her eyes, not realizing that she had let them close.

"But do you want to know," he murmured, pulling away from her skin to look her in the eye, "how I think you're most similar?"

Her eyes focused on his after a moment, and she was almost surprised to see how dark his eyes were. But then again, she was pressed so closely against him that she could feel every inch of him, the tension in his muscles, the way his hands clung to her ribs.

Kate took a shallow breath.

"How?"

He leaned his head towards her again and brushed his nose against hers, she closed her eyes again as he breathed against his lips, unconsciously moving towards him as she felt him pull away.

"Both of you," he said, his voice deep and low, "have someone who's so in love with you that they're not ever going to let you go."

She opened her eyes, and met his gaze again, the intensity in his eyes making her swallow.

"And what if Nikki doesn't want to stay?"

Rick shook his head, "She does. She loves him so much it scares her. She's in too deep."

"So she's stuck with him?"

Rick pulled away from her slightly, his fingers playing around the top of her jeans, brushing against the skin there.

"Looks like it."

She pushed herself off of the shelf, lifting her shoulders off of the bookshelf for the first time since he backed her against it, pressing her chest against his. She stood up on her toes again, her flats putting her at a height disadvantage, and rubbed her nose against his, just like he had to her. She leaned in and nipped at his lower lip, reveling in his slight intake of breath.

"Rick?" she said against his lips.

He hummed in response, his eyes closing in response to her presence.

However, she was sure that even with his eyes closed he could feel her smile against his lips. She certainly felt his at her words.

"I don't think she minds."

She barely finished her thought before Rick fused his lips to hers, pushing her back against the shelf again. A gasp of surprise burst past her lips and Rick tilted his head, immediately pushing his tongue into her mouth. Her gasp turned into a moan, and he ran the tip of his tongue over the roof of her mouth, running his hand down her side. She pushed against him but he didn't let her move, his hand running down her hip. He reached her denim clad thigh and quickly pulled her leg up, hitching it around his hip. He moaned as she pushed herself closer against him, her hand tightening almost painfully in his hair.

He needed her closer. Kate – his beautiful, intelligent, sexy, mind-blowing muse.

As her free arm wrapped around his neck, anchoring him to her, he had to fight back a smile.

Apparently the feeling was mutual.

Rick moved his other hand down her side, intent on lifting her up so she could wrap both of her legs around his waist.

He heard someone clearing their throat and Rick felt Kate startle against him. He sighed, removing his lips from hers reluctantly and looked at the person off to the side.

And there was that damn library aide again, standing there with a hidden smirk in his eyes, sans books or any real purpose of being there, his arms folded over his chest.

Yeah. It was official. Rick really disliked this kid.

He knew what he should've done. He should've grabbed Kate's hand, apologized, and left without making a scene. He should've been the bigger person.

But that stupid library aide was just standing there trying to look way too innocent for Rick to do nothing.

Kate's leg had fallen from around his waist, so he removed his hips from hers (not because he wanted to) and her arms fell away from him. He grabbed one of her hands in his and tugged her away from the shelf. He immediately pulled her against his chest, murmuring a kiss against her forehead before maneuvering them so she was tucked into his side. With his free hand, he reached out towards the shelf and picked up _Heat Wave_ from where he left it after he had taken it from Kate.

He strolled over towards the library aide and handed him the book, back cover up so the young man would see his picture on the back cover. He watched as recognition flooded over the young man's face, but Rick was already moving to pass him. He clapped a hand on the library aide's shoulder, shaking him slightly before he spoke, his voice low, a smirk on the corner of his lips.

"Reality? _So_ much better than fiction."

* * *

><p>4. I had an Oceans exam on Zooxanthellae. They're what gives coral its color.<br>5. _The Gargoyle_ by Andrew Davidson is my absolute favorite book of all time. I highly recommend it.


	13. Bestselling Authors & Desks

1. I didn't know if I had any of these left in me.  
>2. I also totally have 2 essays due tomorrow. One of which is a final on American Modernist Literature which I have not started.<br>3. But you know how it goes... you get one of these in your head and can't focus on anything else until you get it out.

* * *

><p>Bestselling Authors &amp; Desks<p>

* * *

><p>It was Patterson's idea.<p>

Kate had told Rick that she would get herself out of the loft by the time all of his fellow writers showed up for their traditional poker game consisting of drinking, talking about plot lines, and good bit of friendly badgering. He had argued with her as she pulled on a slightly too big NYPD sweatshirt over nothing but that black and white lace bra that he loved so much, telling her that she was more than welcome to stay until they all left.

She had just smiled at him though, told him that she needed to run some errands (the grocery store is always so much less crowded later at night) and call her dad (it's been so long) and she may even head over to the Old Haunt and grab a free drink with Lanie (the owner totally has a thing for her). So she lifted herself up onto her toes and kissed him softly when they heard a knock on the door.

The writers were early.

She had met them before, only recently, nearly always being gone by the time the writers were over for poker night and not returning until the next morning or later that night, usually opting to go to dinner with her father or out for drinks with Lanie.

She pushed him away to get the door while she packed up all of her stuff, finding her phone and tucking it into her back pocket before moving out of the bedroom.

Rick's fellow authors were maneuvering themselves around the room toward the poker table that had been set up earlier that evening while Rick removed a bottle of some of his finest scotch from the liquor cabinet, grabbing some tumblers and bringing them over to the table.

"Oh Detective," Connelly said, "Are you sticking around this time?"

Kate shook her head, "Not this time, gentlemen."

"You say that every time," Connelly said, smiling, "We're writers, we notice these things."

"And I'm a Detective," Kate said simply, "And I can tell that you don't really mind that I never stick around."

Patterson shook his head, taking a glass of scotch from Rick and taking a swig before clapping Rick on the shoulder.

"Nonsense, Detective," he said lightly, "We hear so many lovely things about you from Rick, here, and yet every time we get a chance to really meet you, you're never here. We're starting to think Castle is afraid one of us is going to steal you away."

Kate smiled at him, keeping her voice light, "Not likely. I'm a self-professed one writer kind of girl."

"Ah, beautiful and loyal," Lehane said, looking over at Rick, "You sure know how to pick them."

Rick handed him a glass of scotch, smiling widely at Kate, "I told you she's amazing."

"I believe," Patterson said walking away from his chair at the table, "the word you used, Castle, was 'extraordinary'," he smiled at her, "So what do you say, Detective? Why don't you let us see if you're really as extraordinary as he says?"

Kate raised her chin, almost defiantly, not really feeling up to millionaire-writer hazing tonight, dressed in just a sweatshirt and a pair of old jeans. Maybe if she had put on her heels…

"I can already assure you that I'm not," Kate said, cocking her head to the side, with a tight lipped smile.

"Well, I think that's up for us to decide, isn't it gentlemen?" He looked back to see Lehane and Connelly nodding along with him. He took the last glass of scotch from its place on the table and turned back around offering it to her, "We'll go easy on you."

Kate had to physically stop herself from clenching her teeth, instead looking over Patterson's shoulder to look at Rick. He looked torn, half of himself wanting to defend her honor, the other half excited at the prospect of her playing with them because he knew how good she was. When he finally caught her gaze, she lifted an eyebrow, silently asking if he was okay with it and he nodded in response, giving her a small smile of encouragement.

"Well," Kate said, taking the glass from Patterson, "I certainly hope you don't."

* * *

><p>An hour and a half later and Kate found herself sitting on a pretty nice stack of chips. She was holding her own against all of the authors, only seriously behind Patterson, but so was everyone else. She was about even with Lehane and Connelly and only slightly behind Rick.<p>

Kate sat with her original scotch still on the table in front of her, not really in the mood to drink. Rick had just started nursing his third, but the rest of the table was well into their fourth, about to make it onto their fifth.

The table laughed as Rick tried to tell a story of their latest suspect chase, when he had stopped the suspect from getting away and Kate called him out, telling everyone the truth: that he had accidentally run into the suspect after he had gotten off the phone with Paula.

"Now tell me, Detective," Patterson said, throwing a thumb in Rick's direction, "How have you managed to not kill this fool?"

Patterson, Lehane, and Connelly all laughed around the table and Kate gave them a small smile before looking back at her cards.

"What can I say?" she looked at Rick with a small smile, "He's grown on me."

Rick smiled back.

"I'm sure that's not the only type of groaning he's been doing," Patterson mock whispered to Lehane over the table.

The two laughed loudly in response, Connelly joining them quickly.

Kate looked at Rick, who had stopped smiling and was all but glaring at the other men.

She reached out her foot under the small table, nudging his ankle with the toe of her shoe. He looked up at her and she smiled at him. He lifted the corner of his mouth slightly in response.

He didn't like it when they talked about her like that.

Connelly reached out and clasped a hand on Rick's shoulder, "Oh, come on, Ricky, we're only teasing."

Lehane turned, still chuckling, and looked at Kate, "It's just a stunning, capable woman like yourself could honestly do so much better than a writer with a record…"

"Yeah," Patterson said, looking at his cards for a moment before reaching out and putting all of his chips in the middle of the table, "much less one with two ex-wives…" he looked around the table, his face smug, "… All in."

Kate pursed her lips and shrugged, looking down at the cards in her hand one more time.

"Actually," she said, pushing all of her chips into the center of the table with one hand before looking at all of the writers directly in the eye, "I don't think I can."

Rick, who had long since folded, felt his stomach clench in response, his eyes wide as he caught onto what she was saying. His heart began beating faster in his chest.

Lehane and Connelly quickly folded and sat back to watch the result with rapt attention, lifting their glasses back to their lips.

Patterson laughed, "Well, we can see where Castle here gets his inspiration from," he turned and looked at Rick, "your girlfriend's a wildcat, isn't she Ricky?"

Rick forced a tiny smile, but didn't respond.

The last time someone said something like that to him, she wasn't his girlfriend.

But now she was. He didn't like it then, and he certainly didn't like it now.

Patterson laughed again, the good scotch making him a little louder than usual, before he flipped over his cards, "Three queens, Sweetheart."

Kate kept her poker face in place, looking down at her cards again, before nodding slowly.

"Three Queens is a good hand…" Kate said, taking a deep breath before flipping over her own hand, revealing a royal flush, "… fortunately for me mine's better."

Rick watched Patterson's face go red, staring at the cards before him before looking back at Kate.

She didn't even bother to pull all the chips in toward herself. Instead, she reached out and pushed all of the chips over the table toward him. He gaped at her, his eyes shining with what he knew had to be love and pride and lust as she pushed herself away from the table, standing up from her chair.

"I don't think I can do any better than that, do you?" she asked. Not waiting for a response, she stretched, knowing that they were all looking at her, "Well, gentlemen, it's been a pleasure, but I have things to do."

She walked around the table, moving to stand by Rick. She leaned down, gave him a hard but short kiss before pulling away from his lips. He opened his eyes slowly, looking at her for a moment, his eyes hooded. She bit her lip and whispered quietly, "I'll see you soon."

He nodded dumbly and watched her hips sway as she walked out of the door.

"Damn Ricky," he heard Lehane say, "Where did you find her and where can I get a muse like that?"

He tore his eyes away from the door, looking at all of them, watching her walk away, a possessive glint in his eye.

"Don't even think about it," he said, his voice low, "She's mine."

* * *

><p>He was sitting at his desk when he heard the front door open a few hours later. He heard the telltale sounds of her keys dropping onto the table by the front door, plastic grocery store bags rustling as she put them on the counter. He heard her open the fridge and start to put things away, heard her open and close cabinets before balling up all of the bags in her hand and putting them under the sink with the rest of the bags they collected over time from nights just like this.<p>

He heard her sigh and before he could make a move to meet her in the living room she was walking into his study, running a hand through her hair. She smiled when she saw him.

"Hey," she whispered, "who won?"

He smiled, closing the laptop in front of him and moving it to the ledge behind his desk.

"I did," he said, gesturing for her to come over. She did, shuffling through his office and hopping up on his desk directly in front of him.

He lifted her foot and from where it was dangling over the edge and gently took off her shoe, tossing the flat somewhere to the side before repeating the action with the other foot.

"Mr. Castle, are you trying to undress me?" Kate said, her voice low and teasing.

He pushed her knees apart and moved his chair close enough so that his shoulders were nestled between them.

"Do you have any idea," He asked, running his hand up her jean clad thighs, "how many ways I've imagined you naked on this very desk?"

He smiled as she shivered. Kate put her hands on his shoulders, shaking her head.

"Hundreds," he said, "A new way every time I sit down and write Nikki Heat…" he lifted his hands from her legs, his hands moving to play with the elastic hem of her sweatshirt before moving to lift it over her head. She let him, lifting her arms as he pulled it off of her, letting it drop down by the base of his chair.

He let his hands trail down her toned stomach, palms flush against her skin until he reached the waistband of her jeans. He hooked his finger under it, marveling at the soft skin there and the way her skin puckered in the wake of his touch.

"… It's a wonder I get any work done."

He removed his finger from underneath her jeans, instead choosing to link his finger through her belt loops, tugging her closer to the edge of the desk, forcing her knees farther apart, her denim covered center nearly pressed against his chest. He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on the skin of her stomach. Her hands fell back behind her to support herself as his tongue darted out and tasted her skin.

"Thank you," he murmured into her skin, raising his eyes to look at her from under his lashes.

"For what?" Kate asked breathlessly.

He moved his hands and ran them up her sides, her smooth skin against his palms sending a shock right through him and he applied more pressure to his kisses.

"For inspiring me…" he said, punctuating his words with a kiss, "… for letting me stick around..." another kiss, "… for being a one writer girl."

She lifted a hand from its place on his desk, moving it to his hair as he lapped at her stomach. She wound it into his hair, pulling on it slightly so he would stop. He did, looking up at her.

"Is this about earlier?" she asked.

He moved his hands back down her sides, resting them on her hips as he stood up, forcing her to look up at him as he settled between her legs.

"Do you have any idea how…" he leaned down and latched his lips onto her neck, "…hotit is that you want to defend me?"

He can practically hear her rolling her eyes.

"I did not defend you."

"You did," he insisted, his lips moving to the hollow beneath her ear, his hands flexing on her hips as she pushed her chest against his clothed one, "Against accusations that were completely and utterly true. You could have anyone you wanted falling at your feet and yet you chose me. You keep choosing me."

She moaned as he latched onto her earlobe, moving one of her hands to thread it through his hair, gripping it slightly.

"And do you have any idea how completely…" he questioned, his lips moving against her skin as he spoke, "…and utterly _sexy_ it is that you took Patterson for all he was worth?"

Kate barked out a short laugh before it turned into a breathy moan as he sucked on her skin lightly.

"They were being assholes," Kate breathed.

He smiles, nibbling on her ear as his tongue licked playfully at her skin. She shuddered at his touch.

"They're always like that."

"Don't care," she said as forcefully as she could manage with his hands teasing her under the elastic of her bra.

He removed his lips from her ear and found her lips, kissing her deeply. She immediately opened her mouth to him and he slid his tongue inside, running it along the roof of her mouth. She wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling him as close as she possibly could while he groaned into her mouth.

"They asked me where I found you," he mumbled into her mouth.

"Huh?" she gasped, not willing to stop kissing him.

"They asked where they could get a muse like you… Watched you walk away."

"And you said?" Kate mumbled, removing her lips from his so she could kiss his pulse point, nipping gently at the skin there as both of his hands moved to her chest.

"That they needed to find their own muse…"

He palmed her with both hands through her bra and she pushed herself up into him, gasping as he squeezed her gently, biting down on his neck in response.

"… That you're mine," he said, his voice raspy and deep, "… and they can't have you."

She removed herself from his neck and immediately crashed her lips back down onto his, grabbing the sides of his face and lowering herself so she was lying flat on top of his desk. One of his hands came down to support his weight to avoid crushing her, the other still palming her as she arched into him again.

"Do you know how many times I've pictured you taking me on this desk?" Kate whispered quickly, before diving back into his kiss. He squeezed her tighter in response, groaning as he bucked his hips towards her center, causing them both to moan at the friction.

"I thought you said you pictured me naked?" Kate growled, fingers deftly unbuttoning his shirt and running her hands over his chest before pulling it off of him.

"Almost always," he grunted in response.

She pulled away slightly, "Almost?"

He moved his hands around her back, unhooking her bra with one hand and sliding it from her shoulders, tossing it behind him onto his laptop.

"There are a few…" he said, "… with you in stilettos…"

She dug her heels into his back, bringing him closer to her, her hands flying to the button of his jeans.

"Next time, Castle. Next time."

* * *

><p>I have a thing for big hands and desks...<p>

Anyway! **Love it? Hate it?** I'll be writing essays for the rest of the night so **let**** me know what you think!**


	14. Girls' Nights Out & Alleyways

So... it's been a while.  
>1. I've been finding it harder to write Caskett as canon now that Caskett actually <em>is <em>canon.  
>2. It's incredibly annoying.<p>

* * *

><p>Girls' Nights Outs &amp; Alleyways<p>

* * *

><p>"Wow," Castle said, walking into their room, looking at her in her black skinny jeans, killer stilettos, and that cobalt blue tunic with the sequins on the front that he loved so much because it was backless and gave him the perfect opportunity to run his hands over the skin of her back, "You are particularly stunning tonight…" he walked up behind her as she was touching up her mascara, wrapping his arms around her middle, his hands sliding under the material of her top as he put his chin on her shoulder, tilting his head to murmur against the skin of her neck, "… What did I do to deserve this?"<p>

She chuckled, swatting at his hands, "Down boy, this isn't for you."

"I knew it… it's for your other boyfriend."

Kate nodded, trying to look serious.

"Yup, Boyfriend #3."

"Ah, that's right," Rick said, "Boyfriend #2 is cross country skiing in Europe. I almost forgot."

She smiled at him in mirror teasingly, turning around in his embrace and wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing the line of herself up against him.

"Esposito did something to annoy Lanie… again. Demanded a girls' night. She told me to, quote 'put something sexy on and get ready, we're going out for drinks.'"

"Well that's just entirely unfair," Rick said, pushing her back against the dresser.

"How so?" Kate questioned, her eyes dancing in amusement.

"Why am I being punished for Esposito's mistakes?"

She threw her head back and laughed and he admired the line of her neck.

"You're not being punished."

He shook his head.

"I am…" he insisted, "…You're going out looking like this and I can't even touch you."

She ran a hand up his chest and up his neck, her hand rubbing the skin above the strained tendon on the side.

"What if I said you can touch me all you want after I get back?"

"But that could be hours!" he whined, only half messing with her, his hands moving to crawl under the hem of her shirt again, teasing the skin there.

"So write about it," Kate said, playing along, "Nikki and Lauren just went out for drinks, leaving Rook all alone in his apartment with nothing to do, thinking about how long her legs looked in those heels, how he just wanted to wrap them around his waist… What would Rook do to Nikki when she stumbled into his apartment later that night...?"

He swallowed.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

She smiled at him, leaning forward and giving him a quick kiss.

"Actually… I think I'll enjoy the surprise."

He exhaled the breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"You're evil."

She kissed him again, her fingers still dancing across his neck.

He sighed when he heard a knock at the door.

"That's Lanie," Kate murmured, pulling away from him slightly.

"So?" he moved back to kiss her again.

A hand on his chest stopped him.

"Castle."

"What?"

"Go get the door so I can finish getting ready."

"But…"

"Now."

* * *

><p>As soon as Lanie knocked back her third shot and ordered her fourth, Kate realized that it was going to be a long night.<p>

Kate had only had one, realizing that one of them was going to have to be coherent enough to get them home at the end of the night, and understanding that Lanie needed this.

"And then," Lanie said, smacking her hand down on the bar, "the girl on the scene actually had the nerve to slip him her number. AND HE TOOK IT!" Lanie said, her eyes on fire, "And when I asked him calmly about it… He told me I was overreacting. Overreacting? Do you know what he would do if I took another guys number? He would be out for BLOOD, Kate Beckett. BLOOD."

Lanie's fourth shot arrived and she knocked it back immediately.

"Look, Lanie," Kate said, trying to salvage some of the night, knowing how much she would regret the alcohol in the morning, silently signaling to the bartender for two glasses of water, "He's not going to do anything with it. You can't control what other people do. Women flaunt their chests at Rick, and I don't like it, but I deal. He doesn't act on it. Should he have taken her number? No, but it happened. It's not worth throwing everything you have away. You love each other."

Lanie squared her shoulders, clearly not liking where Kate went with the conversation, "And how does Castle feel when people hit on you while you're working when he's standing right next to you?"

"He hates it," Kate says honestly, thanking the bartender with a smile when he returned with their waters, pushing one of them towards Lanie. She sipped at it obediently, "But he knows he can't do anything while we're working…" Kate grabbed her water and took a sip, smirking over the edge of the glass, "… he just reminds me why I'm _his _once we get home."

Lanie's eyes widened, "Girl, you've been holding out on me."

Kate shook her head, putting her water down, choosing not to give Lanie any of the salacious details, "The point is, _that's_ what you should have done. Just prove to him why he doesn't need anyone else but you. I know you have no problems marking your territory."

"Oh, and you don't?" Lanie said incredulously.

Kate just smiled, "I never said that. I just prefer not to do it in public."

"So what about that one time at the book signing he dragged you to when you grabbed him and practically made out with him on the signing table after a woman slipped him her number and told him he should call her when he's single again because he 'looks better without all that extra weight'?"

Kate glared at her friend.

That woman was lucky Kate had better control of herself.

But yeah… that had made its way onto Page Six… and all over her desk at the Precinct… and the Internet.

"Or that time the new assistant to the D.A. was doing trial prep with you two?"

"Hey! I kept that professional."

"Yeah…" Lanie deadpanned, "… you just brought him into work the next morning with a hickey under his ear that didn't go for a week that he tried to play off as 'he fell in the shower onto a shampoo bottle'."

Admittedly, it hadn't been his best lie.

"I offered to help him cover it up."

"So Ryan and Javier could call him out for wearing make-up? Wasn't gonna happen. And please, girl… a hickey from _you_? He's going to wear _that _like a medal of honor."

She smirked at Lanie and opened her mouth to retort, but she felt someone knock into the stool she was sitting on. She saw a man appear on the other side of Lanie before looking behind her, finding another a man now sitting next to her.

"There's something wrong with this picture," the man next to Lanie said, getting both of their attentions.

"Yeah," the one next to Kate said, "there's no way two lovely women such as yourselves should be paying for your own drinks at a bar like this."

Kate fought the urge to roll her eyes.

Oh, if she had a dime…

"I'm Aidan," the man next to Lanie said, holding out his hand to shake.

"Lanie," she answered, smiling.

"And I'm Derek," the man next to her said.

She almost smiled.

"Kate," she replied, shaking his outstretched hand.

"It suits you," Derek said.

Kate motioned to the bartender for another water.

"What are you drinking?" Derek said, gesturing towards her glass, "The next one's on me."

"Water," Kate said curtly.

"Well order something else," Derek said, "I'll buy it for you."

Kate narrowed her eyes as the bartender brought her another water, "I'm perfectly capable of buying my own drinks."

She looked over, saw Lanie talking to Aidan.

Suddenly, Aidan moved back a step, holding his hand out to Lanie, who took it quickly.

Oh no, this was a bad idea.

"Lanie…" Kate said, the warning clear in her voice.

Lanie was her best friend, but Esposito was like her brother.

She couldn't just watch Lanie hook up with another guy because she was still angry at Esposito.

"Don't worry," Lanie said, standing up straight, and stepping off of her stool without any trouble. Apparently the water had helped a little. "Just a couple of dances."

Lanie walked away, bumping shoulders with Aidan before they both looked over their shoulders, laughing.

And that's when it hit her.

Aidan wasn't the instigator, but the wing-man.

Lanie wasn't the intended target, she was.

Lanie was trying to get back at her for not taking her side completely.

"So…" Derek said, sliding his bar stool closer to hers, "why don't you tell me about yourself, Kate?"

_That bitch_.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later and Lanie still hadn't returned from the dance floor.<p>

She was trying her hardest to get rid of Derek. She told him that was dating someone, and he thought she was lying and brushed it off. She told him that she dealt with dead people every day, and he told her it was awesome. She told him that she had been shot in the chest, he asked if he could see her scar. He had bought her an apple martini that was sitting untouched in front of her while he was there, telling her all about his dog and how impressive his job was (he worked at a bank) and god, how didn't she have a boyfriend because she was just so beautiful.

To which she once again responded that she did indeed have a boyfriend.

To which Derek laughed again and ignored it.

She didn't want to get up and leave because she still wasn't sure where Lanie was. She had searched the crowd for her but couldn't find her, and no matter how angry she was at Lanie for doing this to her, Kate wasn't the type of person to leave her friend at a bar by herself with a man she just met. She didn't want to get up from the bar because if she got up, Derek would most likely follow her, and while he was being a creep, she really didn't want to have to take him down in the middle of the club for being a little too exuberant for her liking.

So she stayed put, her phone resting on her lap, sending texts to Castle every now and then telling him how much she missed him. She got the sense that he was suspicious, but he let it go, texting her back almost instantly to keep her entertained.

And, since clearly being more enthralled in her phone than with the man sitting beside her didn't work, she figured her best bet of getting rid of Derek was just to make herself seem crazy.

She was in the middle of a regaling story about her life with 12 brothers and sisters living on a farm down in Amish country Pennsylvania when she felt a hand on her back.

She froze, ready to spin around and deck the man who was stupid enough to touch her.

She wasn't in the mood.

She whipped her head around, her eyes widening as she saw him, dressed in a pair of black slacks, wearing a dark gray button up that made her bite her lip whenever she saw him in it because it hugged his chest and his arms and his shoulders _just right_.

Rick sat down in the stool that Lanie had left open beside her, leaning against the bar and looking at her at her appreciatively.

"Pardon me for assuming, Miss…" he said, looking at her with a smile, "… but it looked like you could use some rescuing."

Kate looked over her shoulder, saw Lanie on the dance floor with Esposito, Aidan conveniently absent. She caught Lanie's eye, and Lanie winked before turning her attention back to Javier, pushing herself against him and whispering something in his ear.

She looked back at Rick, who nodded slightly.

_Oh, that angel._

* * *

><p>He had been confused when he started getting text messages from Kate only an hour after she had left the loft with Lanie. The first one came in when he was taking her suggestion and writing, a simple three word text that made him smile softly at his phone.<p>

_I miss you_.

He had texted her back right away, telling her that he missed her as well and hoped she was having fun.

She responded back only seconds later.

_Not as much fun without you here._

Maybe she was drunk.

_Yeah? _He'd responded: _the loft's not as much fun without you here either…_

When his phone chimed with another message, he was surprised to see that it was Lanie.

She'd texted him the name of the club.

He was confused until he received two more texts in quick succession.

_Kate needs you to rescue her._

_Bring Javier._

He had called Esposito, told him that he would be picking him up in 10 minutes and was dressed and out of the loft in 2, the keys to the Ferrari clutched in his hand.

They found Lanie first when they got into the club, talking to a tall man in hushed voices on the dance floor, looking conspiratorially over at the bar, the man looking incredibly amused at what was about to happen.

Rick caught sight of Kate at the bar, her bare back hard to miss, her shoulders rigid, a man next to her way too close for his liking.

He excused himself from the others, making his way across the dance floor to the bar.

Apparently the man Lanie was with, Aidan, he thinks his name was, had told his friend that it was a bad idea, but he just hadn't listened. Aidan had a girlfriend, recognized all the signs of a girls' night out, but Derek (was that his name?) was desperate (clearly). When they had saw Kate and Lanie at the bar, Derek wanted to approach Kate, so they did. Lanie flat out told Aidan she was seeing someone, and Aidan was desperate to see Derek get his ego knocked down a few notches, so they had left them alone at the bar.

Which is when Kate had started to send him texts.

And when Lanie told him that she needed rescuing.

Well, he was here to do just that.

As he approached the bar, he heard her talking.

"It's so weird going from living with the Amish to New York City. I mean… I'm basically shunned by everyone who I was friends with back home because once you leave the Amish you can never go back. Only one of my 12 siblings came with me… and she's a stripper now…"

Rick almost laughed. How long had she been sprouting crazy lies about her childhood to try to get this man to leave her alone?

Well, maybe this would help.

He reached out a hand and splayed it across the open skin of her back, hoping that her cop instincts would rest for just a moment before she could see it was him and slid onto the stool next to her.

"Pardon me for assuming, Miss…" he smiled, watching her eyes widen, "… but it looked like you could use some rescuing."

She looked over her shoulder, a silent question of _how did you know where I was? _forming on the 'o' of her lips as she found Lanie, no doubt dancing with Esposito. She looked back at him and he nodded.

She smiled at him, "And you think you can help me?"

He swallowed. She was playing along with him.

"I know I can…" he said, holding out a hand, "Rick."

Kate smiled back, her eyes dancing, "Kate."

He heard someone clear their throat on the other side of Kate.

Rick leaned around her to look at Derek, looking him up and down before reaching out a hand.

"Hi, I'm Rick," he said politely and he watched Kate bite back a smile.

"Derek," the other man said curtly, shaking his hand once, matching Rick's solid grip with one of his own before letting go, clenching and unclenching his hand once under the bar.

Rick smiled.

"So Kate," he said, "What's a pretty woman like you doing alone at the bar?"

Kate shrugged, "My friend left me to go dance… Maybe you've seen her?"

Both of them looked out at the dance floor.

"Is she the one with the caramel skin and the hot pink dress?"

"She is."

"My friend ditched me, as well. He's the tall one in the red shirt, dancing with your friend."

Kate hummed in acknowledgement, turning back towards the bar.

"How funny," Kate said, "I guess we'll just have to look out for each other then."

"I'll be happy to watch your back for you," he said, reaching a hand out again and splaying his fingers across her back, fingers dipping low under the edged 'u' that curved just above her waist.

Kate smiled, lifting her drink up to her lips.

"What are you drinking?" He asked her.

She shook her head, "Just water."

"Oh," Rick said, shaking his head, "that just won't do." He caught the bartender's attention, "Two shots of tequila with a water back."

She tried her best to look shocked, biting her lip coyly.

"How did you know what I like?"

"Well," he said, leaning towards her, "you look like a girl who knows how to have fun. Who _wants _to have fun. You're dressed far too nicely to be in a mood to want to drink a beer, though I think that's probably what you'd prefer," at her nod and smile, he continued, "and you look like the kind of girl who knows how to handle her alcohol."

"Cute trick…" she said, "The question is…" she looked up at him from under her lashes, "Can you?"

"I've been told I can handle my alcohol, among other things, pretty well. And even if I couldn't… I'm pretty sure I would do anything to have an excuse to sit next to you longer."

"So smooth…" Kate said, a hidden smile in her eyes, "You should be a writer."

"Actually… I am," he smiled back, "And let me tell you…" he said, looking her up and down, "I could write novels about you."

Suddenly, he heard Derek scoff behind her.

Was he seriously _still _here?

"Listen creep, she has a boyfriend."

In response, Rick moved his hand up from her back, feeling every vertebra of her spine against his palm, reveling in the goosebumps that followed his touch until he slid his hand away from her back and over her blouse to wrap around Kate's shoulder, tugging her closer to him, smiling at her.

"She does?"

She crinkled her nose, adorably, and he fought the urge to lean down and kiss it.

"Yeah," Derek said, pulling his attention away from her again, puffing out his chest.

"Are you her boyfriend?" Rick asked, his hand moved back to her neck, his fingers making circles against her skin. She bit her lip to stop the moan from breaking out past her lips.

He knew what that did to her.

"Yeah, I am," Derek said, taking a chance.

Kate laughed then, threw he head back and laughed. If he thought she was winning any points in her book, trying to defend her and get this 'creep' away from her, he was sadly mistaken.

Derek had no idea how terribly he had just screwed up.

To her surprise, Rick just smiled, letting his fingers slide down from her neck, placing his hand on her back again, splaying his fingers as wide as they could, dragging them slowly down her spine again. She let her eyes close at the sensation for a moment before looking back up at Rick.

"You're a liar."

Derek stood up from his barstool, boldly plucking Rick's hand off of Kate's back as he stood behind her.

Rick raised his eyebrows.

"Oh really?"

Rick nodded, reaching out and tucking her hair behind her ear, his fingers grazing the shell tenderly as he smiled at her, "Yes. You're not nearly good enough to be dating a woman like her… _Especially _not her."

Derek bristled, looking like he was preparing for a fight.

"What makes you so sure?" Derek scoffed.

Rick stood up from his stool, towering over Derek who visibly flinched back at Rick's presence.

"Because she's _my_ girlfriend," Rick thundered, loud enough for the other people at the bar to hear.

Kate thought she heard Esposito howling in the background with Lanie.

Derek swallowed.

Rick squared his shoulders.

"But you already knew she had a boyfriend, didn't you?"

Derek didn't respond.

"Yet you hit on her anyway."

"Look man…" Derek said, putting his hands up in the air.

"Don't 'look man' me…" Rick said, fuming, taking another step towards Derek, moving into his personal space, "… You come in here, try to pick up my girlfriend, continue to hit on her when she says she has a boyfriend and then you have the nerve to try to play the good guy? You're a pig."

"Well, what kind of guy lets his girlfriend go out looking like _that_ without doing something about it?"

"The kind of guy who trusts his girlfriend and respects her right to wear whatever clothes she chooses," Rick responded immediately, his voice steady, "The kind of guy who knows he doesn't 'let' his girlfriend go anywhere. She can go wherever she damn well chooses."

It strikes Kate that she should step in and stop this. They're making a scene, nearly everyone around the bar looking at them.

But she just… can't.

He's never defended her like this in public. He always just took it in stride, smirked at the guy as he walked away with her, and then took her home.

And it was… kind of hot.

Derek scoffed.

"Well it's clear who wears the pants in your relationship… She must be one good roll in the sack if you –"

Derek didn't get to finish his thought, because Rick's fist had landed directly on his nose. Kate jumped off of her stool, stepping in between the two of them, pushing Rick back slightly, a roar coming from the crowd. Derek was hunched over, holding his nose in his hands.

"You can say whatever you want about me," Rick warned, his voice dangerously low, talking around Kate, "But don't you _ever _talk about my girlfriend like that again."

Kate saw the security guards coming from the side while Rick was still glaring at Derek. She grabbed Rick's hand, and turned them around, quickly moving towards the exit (Derek could pay for their drinks seeing as he was so keen on doing it before). They got outside quickly, the crowd parting for them as she led them around the building, stopping them in an alleyway.

She crossed her arms and looked at him, her head cocked to the side.

Castle had calmed down a little, but only slightly.

"I know that you can take care of yourself," he said slowly, "But I'm not going to apologize for what I did in there. I let it go when we're working… but I'll be damned if I let someone talk about you like that when there's something I can do about it -"

She cut him off with her lips against his.

She pressed her lips fiercely against his, her hands gripping the side of his face as she pushed her tongue past the seam of his lips. He groaned, walking her backwards until her back hit the brick of the building behind her.

Her spine arched away from the cool stones, pushing her body closer to his. He wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her tighter into his chest as he swallowed her groan, her tongue scraping along the back of his teeth. She lifted her leg, locking it around the back of his thigh, bringing him closer to her.

He groaned, letting his leg settle in the space between her thighs, putting the pressure exactly where he knew she wanted it. He let his hands slide around from her back, moving and gripping her hips tightly. She lifted her leg higher around her hips as he hoisted her up, pressing her back against the wall again. She gasped against his lips as she locked her legs around him, bringing him closer to where she really wanted to feel him, forcing her lips away from his so she could get some air into her lungs, her mind spinning. He let his lips move down to her neck, pressing open mouth kisses along the column of her throat, his tongue darting out and tasting her skin every moment or two.

She squeezed her eyes shut, her hands finding his hair and tugging on it, refusing to let his lips move from her skin. He didn't seem to mind, taking that as encouragement and letting his teeth crape across her neck as he reached the skin above her collarbone, her chest heaving against his face.

A wolf whistle broke them apart.

Rick pulled away from her skin, his breathing heavy, his eyes immediately snapping over in the direction of the interruption.

They really shouldn't have been surprised to see that it was Lanie and Esposito, his arm slung casually over his shoulder, Lanie tucked into his side.

"You two better behave!" Esposito called out to them, "Or else I'll have to arrest you for public indecency."

Kate glared at him, though she knew he couldn't see it.

"I've got the chica," Esposito said, his arm tightening around Lanie's shoulder, "You kids get home safe, ya hear?"

He didn't wait for a retort, instead leading Lanie away from the opening of the alley.

When they were gone, Kate looked back at Castle.

"Castle?"

He hummed against her, tilting his head towards hers to capture her lips in a gentle kiss.

"Take me home." She murmured against his lips.

He let her down, groaning at the loss of contact, and grabbed her hand as he moved back over towards valet parking. She tried to smooth his hair back to normal with her free hand and immediately gave up, knowing it was useless, choosing instead to smile at him.

"What?" he asked once he noticed her smile.

She shook her head in disbelief, the smile still in place.

"You just punched someone in the face for me."

"Not the first time," he murmured. Both of their thoughts immediately going back to that cold, January night where they had to save the boys, when he had knocked out Lockwood.

The first time they had truly gotten a taste of each other.

My how far they'd come.

"Yeah," Kate said, squeezing his hand, "But now you know how to throw a punch."

He held up his free hand, flexing it triumphantly.

"Makes you want me, right?"

Kate pressed herself up against his side as they walked. She nudged his earlobe with her nose, before using their joined hands to pull him down to her level, letting her teeth close around his earlobe for a moment before she whispered into his ear.

"You have no idea."

She heard him gulp, freeze slightly.

"Castle?" she said.

"Yeah?"

"Take me home."

"Yeah... home... that's... that's good -"

"Rick?"

"Uh huh?"

"Now."

* * *

><p>1. Kris says this one is one of her favorites.<br>2. I like it because it was an excuse to make Castle punch a douche in the face.  
>3. Pray that I don't get busted by the MA police.<p> 


	15. Sales Associates & Secrets

So... it's uh... been awhile.  
>I hope this will make someone's day.<p>

* * *

><p>Sales Associates &amp; Secrets<p>

* * *

><p>"I still don't understand why you were so adamant about coming."<p>

He stopped short, grabbing her hand before they entered the store to slow her down.

"Isn't it obvious? You, me, in a store full of silk and satin and lace that I get to picture you in? Or perhaps even _see_ you in if you try it on? And then knowing that one day, perhaps very _very _soon, I will get to take it off you? Kate," he said, shaking his head incredulously, "buying lingerie with you… _for you_… is a fantasy come true."

"Castle," she said shortly, "I'm not buying lingerie today. I just need a couple pairs of underwear. Which," she said, looking back to glare at him, "is entirely _your_ fault."

His lips morphed into a smirk.

"Why is that? Because I make you so –"

"Because you _steal _them."

He shrugged.

"I can't help it if some of those scraps of lace have some _very_ good memories attached to them."

"If they're so great, why can't I have them back so I can wear them again and we can create new _memories_?"

He shook his head, "that's not how it works. It's like a scrapbook. You look at a picture and are brought back to a memory. In this situation… your underwear are the pictures."

She spun around to face him.

"I swear, if I'm cleaning one day and I run across another box of _scrapbooks_, I will –"

"Recognize them all because they're all _yours_," he grabbed her hand, pulling her closer to him, looking her in the eyes until she could feel his sincerity. He didn't let her move away from him until she swallowed deeply, nodding.

"Good. Now that we've got that covered" he said, stepping back and tugging her hand towards the store, "let's go find us some new memories."

* * *

><p>They had barely been in the store 10 minutes and Rick already wanted to get out of there. Kate was taking her time, her fingers picking through the scraps of cotton and lace on the display in front of her. He had tried desperately to steer her towards more risqué tables, but she shrugged him off, laughing as he tried to wrap his hands around her waist and tug her towards the silk and satin undergarments his eyes had honed in on the moment he saw them.<p>

She kept his hands busy though, making him hold the pairs she was going to buy, not even bothering to ask his opinion as she searched for the styles she liked because she knew that he would like whatever she picked out so long as he got to see her in them.

"Hey," she said, placing another lacey thong in his hands, "can you go get a bag? They're over there."

He nodded, and she smiled at him, leaning up to press a quick kiss against his cheek and he left her with a smile on his face.

He found a bag, opened it up quickly and put all of Kate's underwear inside of it, tucking it over his arm before turning around.

He hadn't expected someone to be standing there.

He flinched in surprise at the woman in front of him, blonde and over-tanned, her breasts nearly popping out of her black polo, a smile on her face.

"Hello," she said, her voice what Castle could only think was meant to be seductive, "Can I help you with anything?"

Castle shook his head politely.

"No, I'm alright," he said, "Just grabbing a bag."

The woman nodded, but didn't step away.

"Are you shopping for anything in particular?" she asked, looking up at him from under his lashes.

He tried to back away, but she shifted with him, blocking his exit yet again. He gestured towards the bag again.

"Nope, just trying to spoil my girlfriend a little," he said, hoping the mention of his girlfriend (even though she would kill him if she knew he was even entertaining thought of spoiling her) would make the sales associate back off.

"Is that so?" the woman said, pursing her lips, "Have you looked at our newest collection of bras? They're guaranteed to make a girl happy."

Rick shook his head, "I'm not interested."

"Oh," the woman said, and Rick couldn't tell if she was being paid on commission and desperate for a sale or she was just really desperate.

Maybe she didn't even work there? How can you have a job if you act like that at your place of employment?

"I can assure you they're worth it," she continued, "They can add up to two cup sizes. I'm sure that would make _you_ very _happy_…" the woman puffed out her chest, "I'm wearing one right now."

Rick nodded, refusing to look at her chest.

"She doesn't need it," he said, "She already looks amazing."

The woman opened her mouth to continue when he felt his phone buzz and Castle immediately picked it out of his pocket, reading the text quickly.

_Get over here._

He looked up and quickly found Kate about 20 feet away from him, her hip cocked against a display table, her phone in her hand as she glared at the back of the blonde woman's head. He quickly pocketed the phone, not even bothering to excuse himself from the woman standing in front of him, and made his way over to Kate.

When he reached her, she pocketed her phone, and he felt his cheeks flush slightly under her gaze, trying to figure out a way to explain the situation because this didn't happen very often when they were together but he couldn't think of a worse place _for_ it to happen.

In a lingerie store; having a woman shove her boobs in his face when the only boobs he wanted shoved in his face were Kate's and dammit why does this keep happening to him now that he's finally with the woman he has wanted to be with for so damn long?

God had she been over here the whole time? Or had she just moved when she saw the woman hitting on him? He wished she would've come over to him, marked her territory; something he found as endearing as he found it unerringly sexy.

"I changed my mind," she said finally.

He looked down at her, her eyes still on fire and he swallowed.

"About what?"

She stared at him for a moment, her head tilted to the side before her hands moved to pick something up on the counter.

"What do you think about this one?"

He finally broke eye contact with her to stare at the object in her hands, his eyes widening at the red lace and cotton babydoll she was holding that could not be long enough to cover all of those parts that were meant to be covered.

His eyes darted back up to her, and then back to the babydoll in her hands, then back to her eyes.

"I like wearing red," she said, her voice low and dripping sex and it could not be legal for her to be talking like that in public.

"I like you in red," he choked out.

Kate smirked at him.

"I know… I see the way you look at me… like I'm the sexiest thing you've ever seen… like you could get off by just looking at me. It makes me feel so powerful."

His words were failing him, because not even a minute ago she looked ready to rip him apart and now she was staring at him like she was imagining him ripping that little babydoll in her hand off of her and how was he supposed to have a coherent thought when he was imagining that very same situation?

He'd seen her in lingerie before. There was that night in the Hamptons when she brought out that black tulle babydoll and straddled him in his bed talking about Nikki Heat. And there were moments afterwards. Nine months was a lot of nights spent together; a lot of lace seen; a lot satin touched; a lot of tulle and cotton and the occasional leather peeled off slowly and tossed haphazardly on the floor. She didn't need to dress up for him to make him want her, and she liked to save the secrets of her lingerie drawer for special occasions, and every night spent with her were nights that were forever burned in his memory.

But when she did dress up for him? Those special occasions like anniversaries and contract extensions and holidays?

God he didn't know it was possible to get so worked up without spontaneously combusting or embarrassing yourself.

"Not enough?" she said, frowning at the red lingerie in her hand before putting it down, picking something else up.

"Well, how about this one?"

His grip on the black bag in his hand tightened until his knuckles were white, because that black lace bodysuit in her hands was in no way decent and she was holding it up against her clothes, looking down at it as if she was imagining it against her skin.

"I've never really liked teddies…" _oh is that what it's called? _"I find them inconvenient when the time comes… but I think I like this one. The mesh with the lace… it's different."

He squeezed his eyes shut because now he had the image of her coming out of his bathroom wearing only that little scrap of lingerie and a pair of her black leather boots and if he didn't get her home soon they were going to be in some serious trouble.

"So it's too much?"

She sighed dramatically, pretended to sort through the display of lingerie before she paused, pulling out another one.

"What about this one?" she asked, looking up at him.

It was more demure than the others, with a simple lace band covering the top, the rest a flowing mesh circle that he knew would move with her. And it was white.

"Have you ever dreamed about me in white?" she murmured.

He let out an unsteady breath and squeezed his eyes shut, because picturing Kate in white led to a completely different set of images than her in lingerie – images of her in a long white gown on her father's arm; her in a white dress, dancing in his arms to the music of a jazz band; her wearing what she was holding in her hands in a honeymoon suite, a new, sparkling ring on her finger.

"Castle?"

He opened his eyes slowly, his unfocused gaze wavering on her and he had to blink to sharpen the image of her.

"You know I have," he ground out, his dark eyes narrowing at her.

Her lips tilted up in that mischievous way that he'd become so familiar with, and her eyes dropped from his, her hands running reverently over the mesh of the babydoll in her hand, focused on the white lace at the top.

"Yeah…" she said softly, "I have, too."

The air left his lungs in a rush.

They needed to get out of there.

He pulled the babydoll out of her hands and picked up the other two pieces of lingerie she had put on the counter quickly, checking briefly to make sure that they were her size before shoving them in the bag and grabbing her hand, tugging her towards checkout.

There was no one in line, and he all but threw the bag at the sales associate who looked at them knowingly. He was already sliding his American Express card through the reader before Kate even had a chance to protest, taking the pink striped bag from the woman behind the counter with a strained smile and tugging Kate out of the store.

"I wasn't serious about buying the lingerie," she said as she started to match his step outside the store.

He stopped suddenly, turning around and crushing her against his chest, his lips meeting hers on a fiery gasp. She molded herself against him as his tongue forced her lips open.

A moment passed before he pulled away.

"I was."

She rolled her eyes, leaning up to kiss him again.

"You're playing with fire," he murmured between her kisses, "You knew exactly what you were doing in there."

He felt her smile.

"You love it," she whispered.

"Mm…" he mumbled, pressing his lips to hers once more before she pulled away completely, "you know I do."

She tugged the bag out of his hand.

"Think I'll be able to wear some of these more than once?" she said.

"I make no promises," he said, tugging her along down the street in the direction of the loft in silence, the sound of her shopping bag brushing against her leg, reminding him of what was inside of it. He started walking faster.

"One of these days," he heard her say, tugging on his hand and stepping into his side as they walked briskly, "On a _really _special occasion… I may let you splurge on me."

"You will?" he asked, looking down at her hopefully.

"Maybe," she said, biting her lip, "but it's not entirely for you, Castle. La Perla is divine. And I love the way Andres Sandra feels on my skin…"

"And you know that how?" he choked out.

She smirked up at him.

"Victoria's not the only girl with some secrets, Castle."


	16. Nikki Heat & Comic Con

I got the idea for this one when I was writing the last one and couldn't help myself.  
>(also an upcoming episode but I'm spoiler free and just saw promo pictures so no <em>real <em>spoilers)

(Fingers crossed it doesn't take me another 4 months to come up with an idea?)

* * *

><p>Nikki Heat &amp; Comic Con<p>

* * *

><p>She couldn't believe she was here.<p>

She had wanted to go to Comic Con ever since she was a teenager, but had never had the means to get there. She would have been perfectly content to go by herself. Granted, New York Comic Con wasn't as big or even as well-known as the San Diego Comic Con, but it was convenient.

And now she had a legitimate reason to finally make it happen.

As soon as Castle announced to the group that he was going to have a table on the Saturday of Comic Con, she requested off, secretly buying a ticket so she could surprise him.

It was so unlike her to do. She made it a point not to go to his book signings if she could help it, having no interest in seeing other women throw themselves at him, and he respected that. She did go to his launch party with him, and the premiere of "Heat Wave", but they just seemed different. This was his true element, being surrounded by fans that made the trip just to see him. She knew he enjoyed it, he always had, and though he claimed it was exhausting, it made him happy.

She was hoping this, her coming to meet him, would make him happy, too.

She knew his table signing was an hour and a half long and started at 11. After that, he was free do whatever he wanted. She showed up at 11:30, wandered around the stalls for a little bit, trying to ignore the semi-incredulous stares as she walked around by herself talking about comics and artwork and geez when did it become a stereotype that an attractive woman couldn't like "geeky" things?

Castle loved that about her.

Speaking of the man, she began to make her way to his table, slinging her purse over her shoulder, her heels clicking through the buzzing space as she made her way over to him. She found him quickly, but he was talking to a row of fans, all of them female, leaning over the table towards him. She paused, feeling like something was off, slowing down and veering off to the side, watching the interaction. They were all dressed the same, wearing high heels and dark skinny jeans, leather jackets with brown hair and oh my god they were dressed up as her.

No, not _her _her, but Nikki Heat.

Kate hadn't dressed up, considered wearing the "I heart Rick Castle" t-shirt the boys had bought her last Christmas when they found out they were dating as something to make him smile. The shirt she had rolled her eyes at and Castle thought it was the best thing he'd ever seen until he saw the "I heart Rick Castle" underwear Lanie had custom-made for her.

She may have put those on that morning.

Kate looked down at herself, trying not to flush because she _thought_ she hadn't dressed up that morning, wearing a white henley with a scarf under her black motorcycle jacket, her skinny jeans tucked into her knee-high heeled boots, but anyone looking at her would definitely think otherwise.

He was there for Derrick Storm, but she knew that there would be plenty of people dressed up as Nikki.

Still, she wasn't prepared for the shot of anger that coursed through her as she looked at the women at the table, their strappy heels and fake-leather jackets (she could tell) and brightly colored bras underneath stark white oxfords.

Nikki was confident. Nikki, for all that Castle teased her, was classy. She was strong-willed, and determined.

Dammit, she's not a slut.

_Nikki's _not a slut.

Nikki Heat didn't run around in jeggings with hot pink heels and a hot pink leather jacket and push up bra. At least she was practical.

She as in Nikki.

Not Kate herself.

Still talking about Nikki.

Kate felt her phone ding with the text message tone and she fished it out of her jacket pocket, her heart beating faster in her chest when she saw it was from Castle, thinking that maybe he had seen her. She took a deep breath, and opened it.

_I miss you._

Kate smiled, stepping a little further away from his line of sight, leaning against a wall next to security guard as she responded.

_What? Your adoring fans aren't keeping you company?_

Her phone dinged back almost immediately.

_Let's just say I'm looking forward to seeing the real Nikki Heat when I get home_.

She smirked.

_I'm not Nikki Heat._

She's not.

_You most certainly are._

She bit her lip.

_Want me to dress up for you?_

His response took a little longer and Kate wasn't sure if he was talking to another fan and she was about to just go out and see him when her phone buzzed again.

_Don't tease._

Kate barked out a laugh, moving back around the wall so she could see him.

_I'll see you soon… Rook._

She pocketed her phone, about to reveal herself to him when another "Nikki" ran up to him in line, her bra pushed halfway out of her shirt.

She ground her teeth together.

Did they even read the books?

Kate, closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, before opening them, coming up with a plan. She pulled off her scarf, shoving it into her purse before moving back around behind the wall. She knelt on the ground, pulling out her make-up bag, quickly adjusting the look she already had to give herself a slightly smokier eye and make her lips just a little more red. She unbuttoned the buttons of her henley, ran her fingers through her hair and stood up, shaking out the curls as she moved back towards his table, strutting with a purpose.

She'd show them how to be Nikki Heat.

Oh god where was this coming from?

She's _not_ Nikki Heat.

But that fan was still flaunting her chest in his face dressed up as a character he wrote about her and dammit that was just not okay.

She shook her head, not giving herself time to think about it as she grabbed one of his bio cards out of one of the posts where the line must have started, looking at his picture briefly as she approached the table, the woman with the obviously fake brown wig making an exit..

He wasn't looking up when she made it to the table. He was looking down at something in his lap, his phone her brain supplied for her, a frown on his face.

She put the bio card on the table, making sure to make a sound before sliding it towards him.

She spoke, keeping her voice low and sultry, "You can make it out to Nikki."

She watched the almost imperceptible fall of his shoulders.

"You know… you're the 5th Nikki I've signed something for in a row," he said, not looking up as he uncapped his sharpie.

Kate smirked, only slightly offended he couldn't pick out the sound of her voice.

"Oh, I'd like to think I'm a little bit different, Castle."

He finally looked up from the table, intrigued by the use of his last name, his eyes widening almost comically as he looked up at her. She bit her lip to bite back a laugh, not willing to break character in front of the women in the line beside her, watching the two of them because he was giving her the look they all so desperately wanted that she managed to get in less than 10 seconds.

"Do I pass the test?" she asked, leaning so her elbows were resting on the table in front of her, her hands reaching out to brush around his signature, relishing in the way his eyes darkened slightly at the view down her blouse.

"What are you doing here?" he choked out, forcing his eyes from her chest. "Not that I'm not happy to see you. I'm _very _happy to see you –"

"I'm here to enjoy the wonders of Comic Con on my Saturday off," she said, gesturing back behind her where they could hear the crowd outside the signing, "And then I remembered that you were here today, so I thought I'd stop by… Say hello."

Kate reached out, plucking the sharpie from his hand, uncapping it and recapping it over and over.

"And then you texted me saying that you missed the real Nikki and I thought I'd come and surprise you… Especially after I saw what you'd been subjected, too."

His eyes flashed with something and he leaned in towards her.

"They're not so bad," he said, stealing his sharpie back, "Can you blame them for wanting to be Nikki?"

"I'm just saying," she said, leaning forward even more, her voice dropping low, "If they spent more time reading and less time staring at your headshot on the back cover, they would know that Nikki would _never_ wear open-toed heels."

She watched his eyes light up again, a smile growing across his face as he caught sight of something behind her, quickly looking down at his watch.

"I'm out of here in 5 minutes. Can I meet you after?"

Kate let her lip slide between her teeth, her fingers tapping on the table in front of her as she pretended to think about it. She took his sharpie back, uncapped it with her teeth, and grabbed his left hand, flipping it over.

She quickly wrote down the hall she knew would be empty after looking at the schedule this morning, and gave him his sharpie back, standing up straight.

"I'll be waiting," she said, unabashedly using her bedroom voice that she _knew_ destroyed him, never breaking eye contact.

His eyes darkened, his jaw slackened slightly as she spun on her heel, and walked out of the room. She ignored all the stares, the whispers that sounded suspiciously like "_is that her_", "_that's Kate Beckett!_", "_it's the _real_ Nikki Heat!_".

She smirked.

* * *

><p>It took him less than 10 minutes to find her after she walked out of his book signing, leaning against the wall in the dimly lit, momentarily abandoned room, one heel pressed against the wall with her bag and jacket by her feet.<p>

He walked towards her quickly, ignoring the way she smiled at him in greeting, crushing his lips to hers.

She startled slightly as he pulled her off the wall so she was closer to him, the soft curves of her body pressed perfectly against his own.

He wrenched his lips away from hers, gulping down deep breaths as he stared at her, his forehead pressed against her own.

"Hi," she exhaled, her words leaving her lips on a breathless laugh.

He took a step forward, essentially trapping her against the wall.

"Hello, _Nikki_," he said, his hands coming to rest on her hips as his lips attached themselves to his neck.

"I am _not_ Nikki Heat," she said, biting her lip as he bit down lightly on the side of her neck, trying to stop the groan from echoing through the room.

His hands slid down her side to her hips, roughly pulling them against his own as his lips continued to wreak havoc on her neck, her arms wrapping around her waist as she hitched a leg over the back of his leg.

"You're so sexy when you get possessive of Nikki," he mumbled.

"I'm not –"

"You are," he said, lifting her other leg to wrap around his waist, hiking her up against the wall.

"So… very… possessive," he continued, his lips finding her earlobe as he let her slide down against the wall, his hips holding her up as he let his hands run up her sides. She arched against the wall as he nibbled on her earlobe, a gasp bursting past her lips.

"Kate," he murmured, pulling away from her slightly.

She opened her eyes she didn't remember closing, looking into his nearly black pupils dilated with lust and sincerity.

"You're better than a hundred Nikki Heats combined."

She pushed her shoulders off of the wall, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck as she kissed him. He responded immediately, his mouth opening to her by instinct as her swallowed her groan, shifting so she could feel him against her.

His hand slid down to the front her jeans, sliding under the waistband of the tight denim to dip under the edge of her underwear. She responded by rotating her hips against his, pushing down hard on him.

"You are the embodiment of every fantasy a geek at Comic Con has ever had," he groaned against her lips.

He felt her pause for a moment and he nearly screamed at himself for breaking the moment before she smiled against his lips.

"Every geek?" she murmured, brushing her lips against his, "Or just you?"

He shuddered against her slightly.

Her legs slackened around him, both of them falling to the side as she stood up straight, standing toe to toe with him, her nose still brushing against his. Her hands unwound from around his neck, sliding down his chest.

"Have you fantasized about me…" she said, her eyes wide and innocent, "… dressing up as Nikki? Acting like Nikki?"

He squeezed his eyes shut until she spun them around quickly, his back hitting the wall with a dull thud.

"Do you like that?" she whispered, stepping closer into his space (how was that even possible?), "Nikki coming to life for your own –" a kiss to the corner of his parted lips, "-personal-" a kiss to his jaw, "- pleasure?"

She took a step away from him and he tried to pull her back, but she lifted his hands up onto her shoulders, her hands on his chest as she began to sink down in front of him.

"You're not the only one with fantasies…" she said, slinking down in front of him until her knees hit the floor, her hands making sliding his belt from the buckle before she looked up at him, a smirk on her face.

"… _Rook_."


	17. Musicians & Orchestra Concerts

For Olivia. Because she asked.

* * *

><p>Musicians &amp; Orchestra Concerts<p>

* * *

><p>He took her to a concert.<p>

In most cases, their music tastes don't harmonize well, and he blames it partially on their age difference. His teenage years were spent listening to U2 and Def Leppard on repeat with some Journey and Queen thrown in there, while she was listening to Oasis and Pearl Jam, with Radiohead and Nirvana CDs undoubtedly making their way into her walkman.

And, of course, the musical styling of the classic Britney Spears and N'SYNC, which she denies vehemently to this day.

(But he knows).

He's caught her relaxing to classic Sinatra and the more recent Mumford & Sons (he approves), cleaning to Josh Groban (he begrudgingly approves), working out to rap songs that he couldn't even hear what they were saying over the bass (okay…), even dancing in her underwear as she gets ready for work in the morning, humming to those annoyingly catchy songs that they hear on the radio or at restaurants (they've become some of his favorites).

She loved music. Her guitar had a place next to his piano and he knew she could play. He had heard her singing to herself making coffee and knew she had a lovely voice. So when Christmas came around again, he mentioned wanting to take her somewhere special, and when she didn't refuse, he wracked his brain trying to figure out the perfect place for them to go. He saw a billboard when they were on their way to a crime scene, and he knew that it was perfect, hardly able to contain himself until he could sneak away at lunch and figure it all out.

He had to pull some major strings to get them in, because tickets to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, especially around Christmas, were nearly impossible to get on such a late notice, but it was worth all the money and favors he used up once he saw her walk out of the bathroom, wearing that three-quarter sleeved, white, ruched dress that still showed off plenty of leg, her feet covered in nude suede and gold sequined platform pumps, her hair curling around her face in long waves.

He would do it all again in a heartbeat when he saw the way her eyes lit up as he helped her out of the car in front of Avery Fisher Hall, her hand grasped tightly in his as he handed over the keys to the valet, an illuminating smile on her face as she pulled him toward the entrance.

He pulled out his phone once they made their way into the lobby, shooting a quick text while Kate was absorbing the bustling room around them, the women dressed in their fur coats, the men with their cashmere suit jackets. He put his phone back in his pocket, reaching out and taking her hand in his, tugging on it slightly, giving her a small smile when she turned around and looked at him.

Everyone was looking at her, sneaking glances out of the corner of their eyes as they passed and he worried that she would feel self-conscious, not decked out to the nines with millions of dollars of jewelry on her, but she was staring at him, oblivious to everyone else in the room with such a grateful look in her eyes that he felt his heart speed up just at the thought.

It didn't matter anyway – all those strangers. He knew that look in the men's faces, the stares from the women. He knew exactly what they were feeling because he felt it on a daily basis.

They were captivated by her.

"Thank you for coming with me," he said, hoping to convey just how thankful he was that she was here, with him.

She gave him a small smile, her cheeks coloring slightly as she took a step towards him, they're clasped hands in between them as she pressed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

No words needed.

He squeezed her fingers, opening his mouth to speak before he heard his name being called from behind.

"Rick Castle," he heard the familiar voice say, "It's been too long."

He turned around, his hand still wrapped around Kate's, greeting his friend with a smile.

"Brendan," he said, extending his free hand to the man to shake, "It's good to see you."

"Good to see you, too."

Rick cleared his throat, looking over at Kate.

"Brendan, this is Detective Kate Beckett, my partner. Kate, this is Brendan Sparks, first clarinet in the New York Philharmonic."

He met some pretty talented people in college.

Kate let go of his hand, extending hers to Brendan with a smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said.

He met her halfway, taking her hand lightly in his own and bringing it up to his lips, kissing her knuckles, "The pleasure is all mine, Detective," he said, before dropping her hand, "though I must say, I'm surprised."

Kate raised an eyebrow at the clarinet player, winding her arm around the crook of Rick's elbow.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Well, when Rick mentioned that he was bringing someone special, I assumed he meant his daughter," he looked her up and down, "I wasn't imagining a member of New York's finest."

Rick wrapped his arm around her waist, speaking with an easy smile, "Oh, come on, Brendan, the world knows I've been dating her for nearly a year and a half."

"But you've been so good about keeping her out of the papers," Brendan retorted, looking back at Kate, "And now I see why."

Kate gave him a small, forced, smile.

Rick narrowed his eyes at his old friend, recognizing that look in his eyes even after so many years.

He was... _jealous?_

He tried to ignore it.

"Anything I can do to help make her life a little easier," Rick said, "We both know I'm not the easiest person to be with."

Brendan laughed.

"Isn't that the truth? Living with you in a dorm was certainly an experience. I still have nightmares where I just hear you typing all night in one of your writing binges."

Kate chuckled, "Oh, it's not so bad."

Brendan nodded, looking at her, "I assume it's different when he's writing those books about _you_. Writing binges were at least better than the nights he brought girls over."

Kate forced another smile, and Rick groaned quietly.

Was he trying to ruin their night?

"Thank god college is over," Rick said, trying to salvage the situation, "those days are long gone. I'm a one Detective kind of guy now."

Brendan looked between the two of them.

"I just remember that brunettes were never really your thing."

Wow, he _was _jealous, wasn't he?

"Well," Kate said, "Best-selling authors were never really my thing, but he's alright."

He looked down at her to find her smiling back up at him, a teasing smile flirting around the corner of her lips, feeling his chest swell with pride.

He was so damn proud to be hers.

He nudged her shoulder with his own, trying to swallow the lump in his throat.

"She's not so bad herself."

It looked like Brendan was about to respond again when Kate looked back at him.

"Hey, what time is it?"

Rick checked his watch.

"Oh," he said, "It's almost 7. Isn't it getting close to show time?" Rick asked, placing his hand over Kate's still resting in the crook of his elbow, "We should go and find our seats soon."

Brendan nodded, looking up over their heads to look at the large clock on the wall.

"You're right, I should go get settled; big solo during the finale tonight," He bowed slightly as Kate, "It was lovely to meet you, Kate. See you around, Rick."

He walked away, moving quickly towards the backstage doors and Rick breathed out a sigh of relief.

Kate looked up at him, a smirk on her face, shrugging as he raised a brow at him, tugging on his hand.

"Come on, Castle," she murmured, "Let's go find our seats."

* * *

><p>The concert was flawless, though he hadn't been expecting anything else. The New York Philharmonic wasn't known world-wide for nothing. They played their pieces with the sense of a finely tuned machine, the bows flying gracefully across the strings of the violas, the percussion instruments beating out a tune that he felt in tandem with his heartbeat, the flutists never missing a single crying note.<p>

But what was even more fascinating was her.

She stared straight ahead at the orchestra, watching the conductor from their seats as he moved with the vigor of the music, absorbing all of the music as she breathed in deeply, her lips parted slightly in wonder as she listened.

He'd been lucky, so very lucky over the past few years to be able to see this side of her. He knew Detective Beckett, he loved Detective Beckett, but this, right here in this moment, was pure, unadulterated Kate, soft and honest and so very open.

He fell in love with Kate; and seeing her now, so caught up in the childlike wonder of it all, he could feel himself falling in love with her all over again.

She let him see this side of her; she'd allowed herself to be vulnerable with him, to let him inside and believe in them and he was so lucky.

So incredibly, mind-blowingly lucky that she had chosen him, of every man that she could have.

Him.

She chose him.

He knew that the concert was coming to an end, the grand finale starting up, and he shifted in anticipation.

He wanted to get her home.

He felt his irritation flare up as the clarinet started playing, thinking about Brendan and how he had tried to ruin their night by bringing up his past to make Kate uncomfortable (seriously? No way someone could be _that_ tactless). He tried to smother it but he still bristled in his seat, sitting up straighter as the smooth sound invaded his ears.

He felt Kate put her hand on his knee.

He looked over at her, but she was facing straight ahead, her eyes still fixed on the musicians on the stage.

She knew him.

Castle softened under her touch, reaching out and placing his hand on the bare skin above her knee in response. She didn't look over at him, her eyes still trained on the orchestra, but she stiffened momentarily under his touch, her legs falling towards him. He let his fingers trail over her kneecap, watching as her eye lashes fluttered slightly and he felt the irrepressible need to touch her again.

He quickly let his eyes focus past her, not willing to let his gaze leave her for long, but the elderly couple on the other side of her were blissfully unaware of anything other than the concert, and he knew that the married couple to his right were paying more attention to their cell phones than anything else, planning their quick exit after the concert concluded.

He _needed_ to touch her.

He smirked slightly as his fingers moved higher up her leg and her breath caught in her throat, the music growing louder and more intense.

He was always good at helping her through a climax.

The writer in his mind cringed.

Okay, that was a bad one.

But it wasn't going to stop him.

Castle danced his fingers on top of her thigh, teasing under the hem of her dress, relishing in the way that her hand clenched around a fistful of his slacks.

He teased his fingers farther up against her thigh as the music grew louder, reaching out with his other hand and extricating her fingers from his pants, instead curling them up into his own, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing her knuckles, letting the boney ridges fall between his parted lips as she sucked in a breath next to him, her hand clenching into a fist.

He worked his fingers higher up her skirt as her chest started to rise and fall more rapidly, the lights from the stage reflecting off of her nearly black eyes, the music gaining in intensity. He palmed the skin of her thigh, pressing his hand completely up under her skirt until his fingers could reach the waistband of her underwear, sliding under the lace to scratch the bare skin of her hip, so close to where he wanted to really feel her.

Her eyes slammed shut as he tugged on the lace under his fingertips, tugging them as far as he could down her hips so he could feel her completely. When he had enough space, he dipped his fingers down the front of her underwear, her gasp barely audible over the sound of the singing cellos in his ears, but he heard her just the same, like a completely different instrument making music in his brain.

He dipped his fingers lower, shifting in his seat as she bit her lip to try and keep herself from making a sound, her hips making small circles against his hand.

He heard her gasp as the music came to a stop and the crowd began to clap, her eyes flying open as the people around them all stood up, quickly shaking her head and joining them on shaking legs. She pulled her skirt down as surreptitiously as she could, her eyes still unfocused.

He stood up with her a moment later, watching as she looked up at him with black eyes and he smiled at her, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth before he let them trail to her ear.

"The sounds you make are more beautiful than any symphony I've ever heard," he murmured.

She shivered as the clapping died down, the lights in the hall coming back on as the curtain closed on the orchestra and she grabbed his hand.

"Come on," she ordered.

_(There's_ Detective Beckett.)

He followed her obediently out into the lobby towards the restrooms, freezing when she glared at him as she walked into the ladies room. He tried to keep from tapping his foot as he waited, turning on his phone to check and see if he had any missed calls or texts.

He didn't notice she'd returned until she shoved her fist against his chest, something clenched in her hand.

As she shoved whatever is was into his suit pocket, he saw a scrap of black lace, and his eyes widened, his mouth going dry as he looked at her, a devilish look in her eyes.

"I figured I'd make it easy," she said, looking at him through her dark lashes, her cheeks and neck flushed, "so you can finish what you started."

He gulped, visions of her writhing against his hand against the leather seats of his car; against the elevator wall; his sheets at the loft; his shower; his desk, her hair spread over the gleaming wood like melted chocolate as she choked out her release.

"Come on, Castle," she said, tugging him towards the exit and the valet and interrupting his musings, "I want to hear the music _you _can make."

* * *

><p>You can see Kate's dress and shoes over on my tumblr if you're curious.<p> 


	18. Baseball Games & Beer

He had no idea what was going on.

Actually, he had the slightest idea. He understood the basics of baseball: there were two teams, 9 players on the field at a time; the home team plays the field and the away team goes up to bat first; the point is to hit a little, round white ball with a round bat (which he knows for a fact is quite difficult); you then run around the bases to score points, and then, as with every other sport he could think of besides golf, the team with the highest number of points wins.

But it was July, and it was _hot_, and Kate Beckett was standing beside him in a tiny pair of denim shorts and a snug Yankees jersey, her hair in a ponytail under a navy blue Yankees hat with sunglasses on her eyes and he was finding it hard to focus on anything else. They're playing the Mets, he thinks, all he knows that the Yankees are winning, because Kate's kissed him three times in public, quick, hard, kisses that he was never prepared for but left him wanting more, and the guys behind them wouldn't stop complaining about how the umps totally wanted the Yankees to win and their team wasn't getting any calls.

He'd offered to get them a box, so they wouldn't have to deal with other people, and they'd have air conditioning, but she said no. The charm of baseball games, she'd said, was being around other fans.

So here he was, sweating his ass off in the sun, a beer in his hand, trying to ignore the jerks behind him that discovered their only sense of enjoyment, other than getting drunk, was trying to get a rise out of him.

The Yankees were up to bat, but he couldn't be bothered to try and figure out which player, not when Kate was tense on the edge of her seat. Castle heard the crack of the bat, followed Kate as she and the rest of the crowd got to their feet, throwing a fist in the air as the ball went flying over the left field fence. Kate cheered, turning to him with a smile on her face. He smiled back, though he could care less who won, and they settled back into their seats. He offered her a swig of his beer, hers gone since the beginning of the inning, and she took a gulp before handing it back to him.

"Oh, ain't that cute?" he heard one of the guys behind him say to his friends.

He turned to Kate and saw her raise an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

"You're a Yankees fan and you can't afford to buy your girl a drink?" the other said, "What? You spend all your money on her?"

Kate stiffened, but again, said nothing, so Castle didn't either.

"What's the matter, baby?" the guy continued, "Don't like that your man's got no money?"

"Hey," the one said suddenly, "If we pay you as much as the Yankees are paying the umps, can we have you, baby?"

They were drunk. Castle knew they were drunk, but he refused to let that one slide. He looked back over his shoulder, his mouth set into a firm line.

"Don't talk about her like that," he said.

He turned back around but the men behind them whistled before they started laughing.

"Oh… don't talk about _her_ like _that_," one of them mocked, pitching his voice high.

The other mimicked him.

"She's a _lady_," he drawled, "You don't talk about a _lady _like that."

The batter at the plate hit a popup, the second baseman catching it easily and tossing it into the crowd to end the inning.

The men behind them swore loudly, and Castle couldn't help but smirk.

Oh Karma, how lovely you look today.

Rick stood up, stretching backwards as Kate stood up next to him, sliding around him, her chest bumping against his as she shimmied past.

"I'm going to get a drink. Want another beer?"

He picked his up, shaking his beer slightly before shaking his head.

"No, I'm good."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't think that you're going to be taking sips from mine."

He scoffed, "You drank from mine."

She shrugged, "You offered."

"And you wouldn't offer?"

She bit her lip, trying to fight back a smile as she reached into her back pocket, pulling out his wallet.

"Maybe if you're paying for it."

His eyes widened, wildly patting his pants as she laughed, pressing his wallet against his chest.

"How do you _do _that?" he said, not sure if he should be concerned with the amount of things she could take from him without him noticing or turned on because she just had her _hand _in his _pocket _and the possibilities are endless.

"You're too easy," she laughed, turning to walk up the concrete stairs, "Be back in a minute."

He smiled at as she walked away from him, shoving his wallet back into his pocket and sitting back, reclining in his seat.

He heard the guys behind him shift in their seats.

"Damnnnnnn," one of them drawled.

"_Those _are some legs."

Castle clenched his hands into fists, fighting the urge to turn around.

"With a body like that, I would gladly give her all my money."

He felt them lean forward, and _smelled _them lean forward, more than he heard them move forward.

"How the hell did you manage to score _that_?" the first one asked, nudging his shoulder, knocking himself slightly off balance as he did so.

"Yeah," the other laughed, "She's gotta be like… 15 years younger than you or something. You paying her, old man?"

Castle clenched his jaw, but didn't bother turning around, angry at himself at the wave of doubt that swept through him.

She _was _younger than he was. Not 15 years younger, but young enough. And maybe he didn't always remember that because she was far more mature than he was, but he never forgot how attractive she was.

Seriously. She was a knockout.

She could have anyone she could ever possibly want, and she chose him.

He didn't know how he finally got her, but he was lucky. So lucky.

But he's also getting older, and his knees have started cracking when he bends down, and she teased him about his non-existent gray hairs, and he can't go for nearly as long as he wishes he could or as long as she is capable of going (he knows this for a fact) and he always feels guilty about that though she assures him that she's happy (he tries to make it up to her the best he can).

What if she gets bored?

The rational part of his mind knows just how absurd that sounds. They've been together for over a year. They'd talked (vaguely) about marriage and the future and he _knew _that she loved him or else she wouldn't be with him.

But the irrational part of his just keeps kicking the rational part of his brain in the face, his thoughts running away from him.

Running.

He should start running more.

He felt fingers brush over the top of his ear and he jumped, his eyes snapping up to Kate as she looked down at him, two bottles of water laced between the fingers dangling by her side, her brow furrowed at him. He smiled at her, and her eyes flashed to the men sitting behind them, who had conveniently shut up in her absence, and he shrugged, reaching out to take one of the water bottles from her hand.

She slid back around him, her fingers gliding over the skin of his ear before sinking down into her seat.

He was being stupid.

She loved him.

He heard a throat clear from behind him and he stiffened in his seat, nearly growling as he rolled his eyes.

Kate looked over at him, her eyebrows rising in shock.

Apparently she heard him.

"Okay sweetheart. Real talk," one of them said, leaning down to put his face between theirs, "what do you _possibly _see in this guy?"

"Yeah," the other said, leaning down between them as well, "a girl looks like you? She could get anyone. Why the old man?"

He watched Kate inhale deeply, her eyes narrowing behind her sunglasses as she quickly turned around, whipping one of the guys in the face with her ponytail.

"Do you want to know?"

The men nodded, completely oblivious to the fact that the game had started again, Castle's eyes locked on Kate.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know if you can handle it."

The men scoffed.

"Of course we can."

"Obviously."

"He likes to talk."

"What?"

All three men looked at her, confused, and Kate just bit her lip.

"He likes to talk," she said again, "He knows how to use his –" she paused, her lips parting slightly as the soft, pink tip peaked out from behind her teeth for just a moment, sliding over just the bottom of her two front teeth before it disappeared again.

" – _tongue_."

The two men stared at her mouth, slack jawed, and Castle had to swallow roughly, his mouth suddenly dry.

It was the alcohol. It was the alcohol she'd had and the fact that these two punks were drunk off their asses and probably wouldn't remember but he felt the heat shoot straight through his spine, his hands clenching into his fists.

She could _not _say things like that around him and expect him to be okay.

Because she _knew _just how much he loved tasting her - all of her - to the bitter perfume behind her ear to the salty sweat across her collarbone to the all the way down to the bones in her ankle and _every single millimeter _in between.

His mind flew through memories of just how much he loved having her – that time on the kitchen counter, on her bathroom sink (his knees were sore for days), and of course the hundreds of times he's gotten a taste of her in his bed –

He shook his head, blinking quickly

Her lips parted slightly, her chest hitching, and he swore he could see her eyes darken behind her sunglasses.

Oh, screw it.

He took her hand in his and pulled them up so they were standing, sliding out of the stands and towards the stairs. She listed towards him, her fingers wrapped tightly around his fingers.

He paused for a moment before he made his way up the stairs, unable to help himself, and took out his wallet. He threw a 20 at the two men still staring at Kate before smirking at them.

"Have another beer," he said, "It's on me."

Kate chuckled under her breath and he felt her breath puff through the sleeve of his jersey onto his shoulder. His need resurged with a vengeance and he pulled her up the stairs.

They barely made it outside the stadium before she pulled him to a stop, tugging her towards him with a sharp pull on his fingers. His lips found hers immediately, pressing them together as he wrapped his free hand around the back of her neck, angling her to him. She moaned against his lips, a deep, rich, sexy thing that should be illegal to do in public and he broke away from her for only a moment.

"You're evil."

He felt her smile against the weight of his lips and he took the advantage, sliding his tongue past her lips to slide against hers and he groaned at the taste of her, always changing from day to day but never a disappointment.

"Next time," he mumbled against her lips, refusing to stop tasting her, "I'm getting us a box."

"Mmm," she moaned, nodding against his lips, trying to press herself even closer to him, "I'll let you."

He let it go on for a few more moments, until his head was spinning with nothing but the thought of her taste before he pulled away, tugging her gently towards the parking lot.

"We need to get home."

"Why?" she said, her voice clearly mocking, "You think you're going to score?"

He looked back at her to find her smirking.

He stopped them again, turning around quickly so they were chest to chest, leaning down so he could suck her earlobe into his mouth, his tongue teasing the skin.

She a little gasp burst past her lips, her hands coming up to clutch the front of his jersey.

"See," he chuckled, "I'm totally in scoring position."

She groaned against him, pushing against his chest at the terrible pun, but led her towards their car anyway, a little bit quicker than she normally would.

He smirked.

_And here we have Richard Castle up to the plate, he's batting over .500 for the past year, isn't that impressive, Jim? He's got the best record of his entire team at the 12__th__ and that's saying something. Bases are loaded, two outs. The first pitch, and he swings and he gets it! It looks deep. It's going… going… Gone! Unbelievable! Richard Castle hits another grand slam. The crowd is going absolutely wild._

"Are you okay?"

Castle froze, his inner monologue ceasing immediately.

"What?"

She smirked at him, pulling his keys from his pocket and unlocking the car.

"You were hissing something," she said, "Almost like you were cheering quietly…"

His eyes widened momentarily, but wisely, ignored the comment, getting into the car.

"Let's go home."

He had a different kind of game on his mind now.

* * *

><p>1. I miss baseball.<br>2. Baseball puns are my favorite  
>3. I'm marking this as complete. Over a year later, I just have no idea what else to do with this fic. I've been trying to stay creative, but I think this might be all I have left in me. To everyone that's stuck around and kept reading, even though I hardly ever updated this series, I cannot thank you enough. I just feel like this story passed its prime months ago, but I figured I'd try to give you one last go. It's been a pleasure.<p>

_Literally._


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